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Mr 



BRIEF HISTORY 



OF TilK 



EMPIRE STATE 



FOR 



Schools and Families. 



BY 



"WELLAND HENDRIGK, A. M 




CT 2O!890 - 



^^^// 



SYllACUSE, N. Y. : 

C. W. BAIIDEEN, PUBLISHER. 

1890. 



1^^ 



CopjTight, 1890, by C. W. Bardeen. 



THE SCHOOL BULLETIX PUBLICATIONS. 



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PREFACE, 



When I began to teach American history in the schools of New 
York, I looked for a brief school history of the State. The book 
had to be written. 

The study of the history of New York has a place in its schools : 

1. The colony in its origin and growth was separate from the 
other colonies ; for fourteen years after the end of English domin- 
ion, the State was an independent nation ; and ever since, as a part 
of the American republic, it has had a distinct life. 

2. Pupils commonly have a vague idea of the isolation of the 
original colonies and of the relation of the States under the confed- 
eration. During these periods a State history has a unity which 
a general history lacks. The best point of view for a beginner is 
the account of some one colony, in which he can trace the colony's 
•earliest connection with neighboring provinces, its decreasing 
dependence uj)on the mother country, its consequent change from 
a colony to a State, and the reluctant but necessary giving up of 
State rights in the formation of a strong central government. 

3. The study of State history is a study of civil government. It 
is a common experience that pupils, after taking up United States 
history, cannot distinguish between the duties of the State govern- 
ment and of the national government. It is the State which has to 
do with the every day life of the citizen ; and what a State is, is 
best learned in its history. 

4. The importance of New York in the making of America has 
been underrated. The Minute Men, Fanueil Hall and the battle 
of Lexington are known ; but the Sons of Libertv, the Fields and 

(V) 



VI HISTORY OF THE EMPIRE STATE. 

the battle of Oriskany are uncertain terms even to the people of 
New York. How the colony learned liberty under the Dutch, and 
held to it through a century of English governors ; how the State, 
fifth in number of people, with almost a third of its men tories, 
with border open and chief city sure to be the enemy's headquar- 
ters, with much wealth in perishable shipping, — how such a State 
was among the first in the war for freedom, and alone of the thir- 
teen met every demand of congress ; how the commonwealth built 
a canal which not only developed its interior, but also opened up 
the great north-west ; how all these things were done, ought to be 
taught with patriotic pride to the pupils of our public schools. 



It has been my aim to prepare a brief history of New York suitable 
for general reading, adapted to be a text-book for a short term's 
work in the grammar or academic grades, and especially fitted for 
a reader, either regular or supplementary, in any grade of work 
after the fifth or sixth year. 

It might be well for a class to read or study this book after it has 
had a primary history of the United States, and before it takes 
up the advanced study of that subject ; or the history of New York 
may with profit be studied in connection with United States history. 

In fact the history of New York j)roperly taught is a history of 
the United States ; and the teacher, who brings out iji class the 
facts here suggested but not detailed, can make the study a unified 
and graphic story of the republic. 

The book labors to be a consistent State history ; it does not 
assume to give an account of national wars, presidential campaigns 
and international afi'airs ; it refers to such topics only so far as they 
throw light on the story of New York. Men and affairs learned in 
United States history may sometimes be found here in changed 
relations ; Hamilton, who devoted his genius to the nation, receives 
less attention than DeWitt Clinton, who gave his life to the State. 



PREFACE. Vll 

Possibly the book lacks features tlnit may be expected : it is not 
filled with praise of New York to the exclusion of all censure ; it 
does not insult the intelligence of the bright boys and girls of the 
junior grades by telling its story in baby-talk ; it does not relegate 
the gist of a page to fine-print notes at the bottom ; it does not 
crowd the account of the people, their customs and education, into 
the end of chapters, as if such matters were not indeed the truest 
part of all history. 

While the book is not the result of original research, a wide 
I'ange of anthorities has been consulted, and the main facts selected 
and briefly put. Mention should be made in this connection of the 
history of New York by Ellis H. Eoberts in the American common- 
wealth series, and of Mrs. Lamb's History of Xew York Citv. 

W. II. 

Saratoga Springs, N. Y^., August 21, 1S90. 



A BKIEF HISTORY OF NEW YORK STATE. 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTORY. 

Three men, Columbus, Cabot, and Hudson introduce the history 
of New York State. One found the West Indies; another dis- 
covered the mainUmd and coasting southward may liave seen the 
loAV'-lying land of Long Island; while Henry Hudson, one hundred 
and seventeen years after the first voyage of Columbus, sailed into 
the bay of New York. It is possible that an Italian in the service 
of France, nearly a century before, found this bay and looked upon 
the river; it is certain that the Frenchman, Champlain, two months 
before the arrival of Hudson's Dutch crew, stood on the soil of the 
State; but the fame of Hudson is none the less. He may well be 
called the discoverer of New York ; he first made known to the 
world the advantages of the ample harbor, — the harbor that makes 
New York city the commercial capital of America. 

The Land and the People. — But it is not upon this harbor 
alone that the importance of the State rests; its soil and its geograph- 
ical position fit it for an empire. Within its boundaries the white 
man found the Iroquois, the conquering Indians of America . These 
red men were superior to other Indians; they lived in houses, had 
fields of corn, beans and tobacco, made earthenware, baskets and 
ropes, and the five tribes, ^lohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas 
and Senecas were joined in a rude republic. These people were 

(9) 



10 



INTRODUCTORY. 



[Introductory- 



known and feared all east of the Mississippi; but they chose a place 
for their corn fields and log houses in central Xew York, and 
near the present site of Syracuse they had their council-fire or 
capitol. From this advantageous centre they could go north by 
Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence, east by tlie Mohawk, south to 
the Atlantic by the Susquehanna, south to the inland by the Alle- 
gany and Ohio, west by the great lakes. '^Xew York," says Ban- 
croft, '^^ united richest lands with the highest adaptation to foreign 
and domestic commerce." 

The L'oquois occupied the Mohawk valley and central and western 
!N"ew York, while they left the eastern and south-eastern jDarts to 
weaker Algonquin tribes, among whom were the Mohegans on the 
east bank of the Hudson and the Delawares along the river of that 
name. To the north and in Canada were other bands of Algonquins 
who long waged unsuccessful warfare with the Iroquois. These 
weaker Indians implored the help of the French; for French adven- 
turers and traders had built forts along the St. Lawrence seventy 
years before Hudson^s ship anchored off Sandy Hook. 

Cliamplain^ the "Father of New France," was finally per- 
suaded by the neighboring friendly 
Indians to join in an expedition 
against the Iroquois. He went up 
the Sorel, found the lake to which 
he gave his name, and on its banks 
in Essex county met the Iroquois. 
Here on a July morning of 1609 the 
Indians of New York first saw the 
white man and heard the noise of his 
gun. They ran. For Champlain it 
was an easy victory; but it was a 
samuei. champi^^in. f fital blunder. Without knowing it 

he had made lasting enemies of the fiercest warriors of the conti- 




Chap. I] DIVISION INTO PERIODS. 11 

nent. Again Champlain tried to penetrate the State from Lake 
Ontario, and getting as far as Madison county went back defeated. 
Again other Frenchmen tried to gain a foot hold in New York 
State and failed because of the enmity of the Iroquois. Thus on 
the north the French were kept from New York while on the south 
the feeble colonies of the Dutch and English grew strong and held 
the land. 

Periods. — The recorded history of New York, which begins with 
Champlain's battle on the shore of the lake, easily separates into 
five periods. 

Period First. — The Rule of the Dutch, — extending from the 
discovery by Hudson in 1609 to the surrender to the English in 
1664. In this period the Dutch discover and settle the land about 
the Hudson and on Long Island. 

Period Second. — The Rule of the English, — extending from the 
surrender to the English in 1664 to the flight of the English gover- 
nor in 1775. In this period the colonists increase rapidly; they 
drive back the French and find English rule unbearable. 

Period Tliird. — New York as a Sovereign State, — extending 
from the fiight of the English governor in 1775 to the inauguration 
of AYashington in 1789. In this period the State joins with twelve 
other States in a war of independence, is one of a weak confederacy, 
and finally becomes part of a strong nation. 

Period Fourth. — The Development of the State, — extending from 
the inauguration of Washington in 1789 to the completion of the 
Erie canal in 1825. In this period the State builds a waterway of 
national importance and advances from the rank of fifth to the rank 
of first in wealth and population. 

Period Fifth. — The Era of Progress, — extending from the com- 
pletion of the Erie canal in 1825 to the latter part of the nineteenth 
century. In this period the State maintains its right to the name 
of the Empire State. 



EIBIOID I, 



CHAPTER II. 



The Rule of the Dutch.— 1609-1664. 
Henry Hudson. — It was in July of 1609, as has been said, that 
Champlain first entered the State of New York. It was on the 
third of September of the same year that Hudson discovered New 
York bay. Henry Hudson was an Englishman who engaged in the 
service of some Amsterdam merchants and set out to find a north- 
east passage to India. The daring sailor left Holland in the little 
ship, the Half Moon, and tried to reach India by sailing north of 




Hudson's Ship. 



(13) 



Chap. II] HENKY HUDSON". 13 

Sweden. He was driven back by the ice, but, still unwilling to 
^ive up, turned straight about to find a westerly way to Asia. 

He touched first the shores of New Foundland, steered south, 
mended his sails in Maine, saw Chesapeake bay, and turning back 
to the north entered the river to which others have given his name. 
Knowing nothing of the breadth of the continent, he hoped that 
the stream would prove a passage to the Pacific; but when he had 
followed the river for over a hundred miles and found it growing 
shallow, he turned back; then having spent al)out a month inside 
Sandy Hook, he steered out into the deep, never again to return. 
On his next voyage, still looking for a north-west passage, he en- 
tered Hudson Bay. Here with his little son he was set adrift by 
his rebellious crew and perished. 

The First Settlements. — Although the Cabots had discovered 
the continent more than a hundred years before the voyage of the 
Half Moon, yet the favored spot thus found by the Dutch was in the 
midst of a vast unclaimed wilderness. Hundreds of miles to the 
south were a few starving Englishmen at Jamestown; far to the 
north were camps of French traders among the snows of Nova 
Scotia and Montreal; all else was forest and savages. The May- 
flower had not sailed. When^ another or perhaps a second summer 
came around, the Indians, who had watched the sails of Hudson 
disappear, gladly welcomed the ships of some Dutch fur traders. 
These men bought and sold and went back. 

Thus they continued going and coming, until in the fourth year 
after the discovery the traders built a few huts on Manhattan 
Island, so that it is said that New York was settled in 1G13. Soon 
after, a strong building was put up where the foot of Broadway now 
is, to serve as a store-house and fort. About the same time the 
adventurous traders made their way nearer the heart of the fur 
trade and built a fort on Castle Island, below the present Albany. 



14 



THE RULE OF THE DUTCH. 



[Period I 



But cabins, forts, and store-liouses did not really make a settle- 
ment; they were shelters but not homes. 




mm 

The First Wakehousb. 



Discoveries and Claims. — While many of the thrifty Dutch 
were busy bartering their brass trinkets and fiery liquor for the 
skins of otters and beavers, other visitors to the new land were fol- 
lowing the lead of Hudson and examining the coasts. Captain 
May sailed about Delaware Bay and left his name on its northern 
cape. Adrian Block, ^^ first of European navigators steered through 
Ilellgate" and sailed on Long Island Sound; he discovered the 
Connecticut river and found and named Ehode Island and Block 
Inland. 

From the discoveries of Hudson, Block and others the Dutch 
laid claim to the land and gave it a name. The Delaware they 
called the South river; the Connecticut the Fresh river; the Hud- 
son the North river or the Mauritius (maw-rish-i-us). They called 
the country New Netherland, and claimed that it extended from the 
fortieth to tlie forty-fifth parallel of latitude. Later on they de- 
fined New Netherland as lying between the Delaware and Cape 



Chap. II] 



DISCOVERIES AND CLAIMS. 



15 



Cod, and in later years they would have been glad to fix the Con- 
necticut river as the northern and eastern boundary. 

The First Homes. — These claims were held simply by trading 
posts until fifteen years after the discovery of Hudson, when thirty 
families of persecuted French protestants came. They were the 
first white people who made the land of New York their home. 
Eiffht of these families settled on the lower end of Manhattan 
island ; and about them grew the town called later New Amster- 
dam, destined to become New York city. Other families went 
to the New Jersey shore, where the land was called Pavonia. 
Eastward across the river from Manhattan on Long Island a 
little company of these people took the name Breukelen (Brook- 
lyn). A few went to the Connecticut river and some to the Delaware 




liLDB Sketch ae New Amstekdam. (Made by a Dutch officer in 1635.) 



16 RULE OF THE DUTCH. [Period I 

river, while others sailed a short distance above the abandoned fort 
on Castle Island and built Fort Orange, the beginning of the city 
of Albany. 

These families were sent out by a society of Dutch merchants 
called the Dutch West India company, an organization which 
had been chartered a few years before and which had received 
the entire control^of New Netherland. The government of Hol- 
land still retained supreme authority over the territory; but all the 
internal affairs of the colony rested with the stockholders of th v 
West India company. 

The Patroons. — Beside sending these families, the company 
further encouraged settlements by the patroon system. They gave 
the right to any one who would establish a colony of fifty j^ersons, 
to have and to hold forever a tract of land fronting sixteen miles 
on the water and running back indefinitely, provided however that 
the rights of the Indians were purchased. Tliese large land owners 
were called patroons. One of the most famous of these patroons 
was Kilian Van Kensselaer (kee-le-an van ren'-sel-er) whose land, now 
in the counties of Albany, Columbia and Rensselaer, was known as 
Rensselaerwick. The patroons brought many people to New Neth- 
erland; but as they had almost boundless control over their settle- 
ments, they frequently quarreled with the West India company, 
with the colonists and with the governors. 

The GOYerment. — The first governor, or rather director-general, 
as he was called, was Peter Minuet, who was sent by the company 
and who began his rule in 1626. Two years before. Captain May 
had charge of the colony ; but there was no formal government 
until the arrival of Minuet. He had a council of five to assist him 
and he appointed others to act as secretaries, sheriffs, collectors, 
and the like ; but in the choice of none of these officers did the 
people have a part. Later on the colonists secured slight changes 



Chap. II] THEIR GOVERNMEN-T. 17 

iti the laws of the colony ; but never did they obtain from Dutch 
rulers that the voice of the people should be heard in their own 
government. 

During the thirty-eight years in which the Dutch had a formal 
government, four director-generals were in turn at the head of the 
colony : Peter Minuet, Walter Van Twiller, William Kieft (keeft), 
and Peter Stuyvesant (sti-ve-sant). The acts of these men were of 
little account ; all of them did something for themselves and for 
the stockholders who sent them ; none of them accomplished much 
for the people. Says some one rather severely : '^ Minuet was a 
self-willed and self-seeking adventurer. Van Twiller a drunken and 
indolent fool, Kieft a conceited and tyrannical bankrupt, Stuyve- 
sant a despotic and passionate autocrat. ■'' 

The first twelve years of authority was equally divided between 
Minuet and Van Twiller. The first governor was accused of fav- 
oring the patroons^ and was recalled. Van Twiller, who has been 
made so laughable by Washington Irving, seemed to spend most of 
his small energy in personal quarrels. He wrangled with his 
officers, got into a dispute with the minister of the little church, 
and in turn was denounced from the pulpit. In his place William 
Kieft was sent. Where Van Twiller was slow and inefficient, 
Kieft was hasty and rash. To this rashness he added dishonesty, 
and in the ten years that he was director -general he brought the 
colony to the verge of ruin. 

The Indians. — The greater part of Kieft's violent energy was 
spent upon the Indians. The decade in which he ruled was a time 
of Indian warfare. For the most part the colony had used the red 
men well and in return had received less trouble from them than 
had the neighboring settlements. The great industry of Xew 
Netherland was the fur trade; and for the success of this traffic peace 
with the Indians was necessary. So the Dutch were ever on good 



18 



THE RULE OF THE DUTCH. 



[Period I. 



terms with the Iroquois, while the farmers and fishermen of New 
England were fighting King Philip, and the tobacco raisers of Vir- 
ginia were suffering from the attacks of the tribe of Powhatan. 

The Dutch made it a rule to buy the land which they occupied 
from the Indian owners. One of the first acts of Director Minuet 
was to purchase Manhattan Island for twenty-four dollars, at the 
rate of one cent for ten acres, paid in gay clothing, beads, and 
brass ornaments. So from the days of Henry Hudson for thirty 
years the savages did not trouble the colony. Soon after Kieft's 
arrival he found cause for dispute with the Raritan Indians on the 
New Jersey coast. He sent murdering expeditions, offered prizes 
for their heads, and caused Staten Island to become a slaughter 
ofround. 




''^VA^^^^^^^ 



Purchase op Manhattan Island. 



Chap. II] GROWTH OF THE COLONY. 19 

The result of this was a gathering of the river Indians for the de- 
struction of the settlements. Still war could have been avoided by 
prudent means. It happened at tliis time that the ^lohawks, of 
the Iroquois tribes, had bought for a round price in furs a few 
muskets, and were driving before them the Indians of the lower 
Hudson. The fugitives gathered around the Dutch settlements 
and asked for protection. Some of tliem camped at Pavonia ; and 
while tliey were there a band of blood-tliirsty colonists and soldiers 
easily got permission of Kieft, rowed across the river in a cold win- 
ter night, and before sunrise foully butchered eighty men, women, 
children, and babes. At Corlear's Hook, the foot of the modem 
Grand street, they murdered forty more. This was in 1643. 

For two years the red men of Long Island and the Hudson val- 
ley, thus wantonly provoked and further incited by the brandy 
sold them, kept up a bloody contest. They drove the whites from 
the farms and villages until they forced them into Manhattan 
island. Outside of this retreat only Gravesend, Rensselaerwick, 
and Fort Orange were secure from attack. ]\Iany of the people 
returned to Holland ; those who were left feared the Indians and 
detested Kieft; the settlements were in ruins and Manhattan could 
count but one hundred male citizens. Finally when a thousand 
Indians had been slain, and the very life of the colony was in 
danger, peace was made with the aid of the friendly Iroquois, and 
the colony began a new era of prosperity. 

Growth of the Colony. — The settlements had increased, not 
rapidly, but sturdily. When Minuet came to be governor, Xew 
Netherland had a population of two hundred people. Twenty 
years later, at the close of Kieft's administration, this number had 
been increased ten-fold. These people, — no more than now are 
gathered in some of the small villages of the State, — lived on the 
lower end of Manhattan island ; at Pavonia ; at Brooklyn, which 
then stood a mile back from the river ; at Fort Orange; at Fort 



W THE RULE OF THE DUTCH. [Period I 

Good Hope, now Hartford ; while farms spread over parts of the 
present counties of Albany, Eensselaer, Westchester, Richmond, 
Kings, and Queens. In the latter days of Dutch rule Esopus (e-so'- 
pus), now Kingston, was a brisk place on the Hudson; and Schenec- 
tady, first of the towns in the rich valley of the Mohawk, was 
begun. By this time it is estimated that the province had eight 
thousand inhabitants ; while the future metropolis had a popu- 
lation of two thousand people. 

The People of New Netherland. — These eight thousand peo- 
ple were by no means all from Holland. No other Amer- 
ican settlement had so varied a class of inhabitants as 
had New York. ^' New York was always a city of 
^Q, "-7"-::;. i \ the world." The colony by its offers of relig- 
ious freedom attracted the persecuted from 
France, Germany, Bohemia, and all 
countries of Europe. And to the 
shame of the colony it must 
be said that African slaves 
were of its population, brought 
in during the first year of Min- 
uet's directorship, and after- 
wards greedily bought until the 
slave element became a source 
of danger. The most energetic 
part of the community came 
from the neighboring settle- 
ments of New England, some to 
seek superior soil, others to es- 
cape the persecution of the zeal- 
ous Puritans. Among these 
were many Quakers and sturdy 
_ men most needed in the mak- 
ing of a state. 




TROUBLES OF THE COLONY. 



21 



Chap. II] 

Stuyvesant. — Such citizens could not tamely submit to be mis- 
ruled; they sent to Holland many bitter complaints, and welcomed 
with joy the recall of Kieft and tlie appointment of Peter Stuyve- 
sant. This man, whose fame preceded him, was perhaps the best 
as he was the last of the Dutch governors. lie had lost a leg in 
valiant service in the AVest Indies, and as he landed on a ^lay day 
of 1647 at the port of New Amsterdam he stumped proudly along on 
his wooden leg, determined to conquer the huge ditticulties which 
confronted him.* 

The Swedes. — Four dangerous elements surrounded the new 
Yulev, — the Swedes on the Delaware, the English on Long 

Island and on the Connecticut river, the 
Indians, and the rapidly growing party 
in New Amsterdam who wanted a voice 
in making the laws and the rulers. 
The Swedes early claimed the attention 
of Stuyvesant. About the time that 
Kieft became director, a party from 
Sweden, led by Peter Minuet, smarting 
under his dismissal from the director- 
Stuyvesant's Seal. ship. Settled on the south bank of Dela- 

ware bay. Here on land claimed to belong to New Netherland 
they built Fort Christiana (kris-te-ah'-na), on the site of Wil- 
mington, defied Kieft, and captured the Dutch fort, Casimir. 
They gave up however both strongholds to Stuyvesant on his ar- 
rival in the bay with a fleet and six hundred men ; so that land 
now in the state of Delaware was for a time under the government 
at New York city. 

Further Indian Troubles.— While Stuyvesant was attending 
to these matters on the Delaware, the Indians took the opportunity 




* His portrait faces the title-pa^'c of this volume. 



22 THE RULE OF THE DUTCH. [Period I 

to raid Hoboken and Pavonia ; they killed a hundred settlers, and 
threatened another general outbreak. The governor on his return 
checked the slaughter, and by his prudent efforts to defend the 
colony rather than to kill off the Indians soon secured lasting peace; 
so never again was Manhattan in fear of savage war. 

The English. — When the governor turned his attention toward 
the English on the Connecticut he found thrifty colonies. In the 
days of Van Twiller the Dutch had bought of the Pequod Indians a 
tract of land where Hartford now stands, and had there built Fort 
Good Hope. A few weeks later some people from Massachusetts 
sailed up the river, defied the guns of the little fort, and settled 
Windsor. Soon the Dutch fort was surrounded by the farms of the 
energetic Puritans. Van Twiller sent a company of seventy men to 
take an English fort at Weathersfield ; they started with much 
noise of drum and with boasting ; they came back without making 
an attack. 

These Dutch on the eastern outpost of New Netherland were 
traders and soldiers; they grew discontented and died off. Their Eng- 
lish neighbors were farmers; they took large harvests from the soil, 
brought up increasing families, and were content. They filled 
eastern Long Island; they crept into Westchester; they were likely 
to occupy the upper valley of the Hudson, cut off the fur trade of 
the Dutch, and hem them in on a narrow strip. When Stuyve- 
sant took the colony in hand he saw that the best that he could 
do was to agree on a favorable boundary and give up all claim to 
the valley of the Connecticut. He conceded to the English all of 
Long Island that is now Suffolk county, running the dividing line 
south from Oyster Bay, and gained a promise that on the main 
land the Connecticut boundary should not come within ten miles 
of the Hudson river. 

This treaty was never ratified by the English government ; it was 
not respected by the colonists who made it. On Long Island they 



Chap. II.] DISSATISFACTION- OF THK PT-OPLE. 23 

over-stepped the dividing lines. Stuyvesant sailed around to Bos- 
ton to protest ; but he only showed his weakness. " Connecticut," 
said her agents at another time, ''by its charter extends to the 
Pacific." — ''Where then is New Netherland?" asked the Dutch 
envoys. — "That," said the English coolly, "we do not know." 

Dissatisfaction of the People.— But the danger fatal to 
Dutch interests was neither the Swedes, the Indians, nor the Eng- 
lish. The very people of the colony oppressed by the greed of 
the West India company chafed under the control of Holland. 
There were high taxes on things bought and sold, on produce sent 
abroad, on goods received. In return the company promised to 
build defences and take the care necessary for settlements in a 
wilderness. It failed to do so ; the company itself did not prosper, 
but became bankrupt, and left the people without suitable protec- 
tion from Indians and rival colonists. 

There was no public spirit, for no one had a voice in the laws. 
Wealth could purchase certain privileges, but manhood had no 
rights. The settlers looked to their neighbors, the New England 
colonists, and saw more prosperous communities making their own 
laws in town meeting, and providing promptly for their defence. 
The comparison of the two provinces was surely not to the credit 
of the Dutch. Nor were there wanting plenty of English in New 
Netherland to call the attention of the Dutch to these facts. The 
English became so numerous that an English secretary, Englisli 
preachers, and the writing of the laws in English became necessary. 
During the Indian war John Underbill, a former resident of Con- 
necticut, who had gained fame in tlie Pequod war, was put at the 
head of the Dutch troops. The keen Yankees daily increased and 
thrived among the Dutch; they became their merchants, taught 
their schools, married their daughters, gave them their first lesson 
in resistance to tyrants. 



24 THE RULE OF THE DUTCH. [Period I 

The People Recognized . — Director Kief t had seen during the 
troublesome days of his rule that he must make a pretense of ask- 
ing the wishes of the common people. So as a matter of policy he 
requested the patroons and heads of families to select a committee 
of twelve to advise together for the welfare of the colony. These 
twelve men were the first representative body of the people of the 
State of Xew York. Afterward there was a committee of a smaller 
number known as the eight men. As long as these committees 
favored higher taxes and Kieft's plans against the Indians, he will- 
ingly heeded them ; when they opposed his schemes and demanded 
just laws for the inhabitants of the province, he sent them home. 

His successor, Stuyvesant, allowed the towns of Xew Amsterdam, 
Brooklyn, Gravesend, and Amersfoort (Flatlands), to elect eighteen 
delegates, from whom he chose nine men to act as magistrates and 
as a body of advisers. But neither he nor the company would give 
them any real power. He answered the respectful appeals of the 
people : *'Laws will be made by the director and council. Shall 
the people elect their own officers ? Every man will vote for one 
of his own stamp. The thief will vote for the thief, and fraud and 
vice will become privileged ! " He was jjraised by the company. 
'^ Have no regard to the consent of the people,^' said they ; '' let 
them indulge no longer the visionary dream that taxes can be im- 
posed only with their consent." 

The Surrender. — But the people continued to dyeam. The 
assembly was dismissed. Yet again in 1GG3 the stubborn governor 
was forced to allow another assembly from the villages to be called. 
Troubles were coming fast : Esopus was burned by the Indians ; 
Long Island towns were revolting ; at Gravesend, almost within 
sight of New Amsterdam, the Dutch flag was torn down and the 
English colors shown ; the Connecticut Yankees had bought of the 
Indians land up to the Hudson ; rumors of tlio coming of an Eng- 
lish fleet were in the air. The rumors liad truth in them. 



Chap. II] 



END OF THE DUTCH RULE. 



25 



Late in August of the year 1664, a fleet with English soldiers 
and with men of ^Massachusetts and Connecticut anchored in 
Gravesend Bay. The defences of the city were weak; many of the 
people were willing to try English rule ; the burgomasters advised 
surrender. '' I would rather be carried to my grave/' said the un- 
conquerable Stuyvesant. But without death or wound, on the 
third of September, fifty-five years to a day from Hudson's discov- 
ery, the people of New Netherland took the authority into their 
own hands, agreed to deliver it to the English, and brought the 
rule of Stuyvesant to an end. 

His bravery earned a better fate. As the hired agent of the 
West India Company he did as they directed. Ilis ideas of 
human liberty were too narrow to allow him to see that his duty to 
his employers was at enmity with a higher duty to the people. But 
he had the good of the colony at heart. With the settlers he quietly 
spent his after life, and among the busy streets of the great city^ 
which once as a village he governed, is his grave. 



d^~^ 



^^m 



aVH!' 



k 



petrfSStuyvesa^ ^ 

late Captain- G^^eraL and GoveruoiiiriGliiefof AmsteToani 

iLiNefw-Netherland now^ pidled New -^rlt^^ 

and theDutdiWe sd-hidia Isla nds , die d in AX) .167 a 

^_ a.g|df^o years. 



m^ 



nt:^ 



Stuttvesant's Tomb.— (St. Mark's Church, New York City.) 



CHAPTER IIL 



THE PEOPLE OF NEW NETHERLAN"D. 

Why the Dutch Lost New York.— Holland did not lose New 
Ketherland because inferior as a nation to England. The Dutch 
Republic during the first half of the seventeenth century was one 
of the great powers of Europe ; she had gained her independence 
from the tyranny of Spain ; her capital, Amsterdam, was the com- 
mercial centre of the world ; her victorious admiral. Von Tromp 
(tromp) swept the seas with a broom at his mast head ; her schools, 
writers and statesmen were among the most famous of Europe. 

Nor did the Dutch lose their colony because their title to the 
land was less valid than that of England. They based their claim 
first on the discovery of Hudson, secondly on actual settlement, 
thirdly on purchase of the land from the Indians. The sole title 
of the English to the soil lay in the coasting voyages of the Cabots 
from New Foundland to Maryland over a hundred and fifty years 
before. The rights of the Indians they counted as nothing. 

The Dutch lost New York because as traders and soldiers they 
could not hold the land against the English farmer. The contest 
for the Connecticut valley was the critical event. To a great extent 
the Dutch farmers along the Hudson rented their land of the 
patroons and hence were not attached to the soil as were the New 
England settlers who owned the land which they plowed. The 
Dutch Republic blundered when it gave New Netherland into the 
hands of a money-getting company ; the West India company 
blundered when it gave its best lands to the king-like patroons. 

(26) 



Chap. Ill] LEADING MEN OF THE COLONY. 27 

Leading Men.— During the fifty years of Dutch control the 
simple affairs of the small band of colonists called forth few 
men worthy to be remembered. Of the governors Stuyvesant 
was the only one of ordinary ability. Among the patroons was 
David Pietersen de Vries (pee-ter-sen deh vrees) who defended the 
interests of the people; he had the courage to censure Van Twiller 
for his ineflaciency and to oppose the fool-hardy projects of Kieft. 
He was president of the Twelve, that germ of a government of the 
people. Finally having been ruined by the Indian war he went 
back to Holland. When parting with Kieft he said , '' The murders 
in which you have shed so much innocent blood will yet be avenged 
on your own head ; '' a prophecy soon fulfilled by the shipwreck of 
the governor when recalled to Holland. 

Another leader of the people was Dominie John Megapolensis, 
who came as a minister to Rensselaerwick. He carried the gospel 
to the Indians, who had already heard something of the story of 
the cross from the French priests of Canada. Later the good 
Magapolensis lived on western Long Island and always appeared 
as the champion of the people. 

The one man who without rank or wealth rose from among the 
ordinary colonists to make his mark in history was Arendt Van 
Curler. He was the first white man from the Dutch settlements to 
penetrate the Mohawk valley. He reported the lands "the most 
beautiful that eye ever saw.'^ Van Curler or Corlear as the Indians 
called him secured the love and trust of the Iroquois to a wonder- 
ful degree. To them he was the greatest of white men and ever 
afterward they called the governor of New York "Brother 
Corlear." During the last years of Dutch rule he pushed out from 
Fort Orange with a company of colonists and settled Schenectady, 
long the outpost of the great west. 



88 



THE PEOPLE OF KEW Js'ETHERLAKD. 



[Period I 



The Common People. — Though the colony produced few men 
of note, the general character of the people was of a high order ; 
they were thrifty, neat and industrious. ''They brought over 
with them the liberal ideas and homely virtues and honest maxims 
of their country." There were few that were lazy, and no paupers. 
They had little mercy for criminals ; a man for stealing some '' nose- 
cloths '' was banished ; a slanderer had a red hot iron stuck through 
his tongue. Women were forbidden to scold ; and for that and like 
offences there was a ducking stool on Manhattan island near the 
water^s edge. Just in front of the fort was a gallows, one of the 
first objects to be seen by the new-comer sailing up the bay to New 
Amsterdam. 

New Amsterdam. — That settlement had been incorporated as a 
separate village in 1G53, when it had less than a thousand people. 
It was some years before the first street was paved with stone ; and 
there was much trouble because the '' broad-way '' leading from the 
fort was rooted up by hogs. Thereupon a city ordinance was made, 
hardly necessary in modern New York, compelling the owners to 
stick rings through the hogs^ noses. All over the new city the 
gardens and yards were luxurious with cabbages and tulips. The 




ViKW or New Amsterdam in 1656. 



Chap. Ill] 



HOUSES OF THE COLONY. 



homes, first of logs, soon came to be like the odd looking, comfort- 
able dwellings of the mother country. 

Houses. — The Dutch house, still to be seen in old towns about 
the Hudson, stood gable end to the street. The front wall was 
generally of brick or stone, while the rest of the house was wooden, 
and instead of slanting to a point, like the tiled roof, the wall went 
up to a peak in steps like a pair of stairs. Scattered about on the 




Dutch Houses in New Amsterdam. 

front of the house were large iron figures which told the date of the 
building. Deep-seated windows with small panes of glass looked 
upon the street, and on a dark night contained a lighted candle ; 
while the lighting of ISTew Amsterdam's streets was further secured 
by requiring every seventh householder to '^ hang out a lanthorn and 
candle on a pole." Within were broad halls, sanded floors, large 
rooms in front, where the good vrow gave weekly vent to her 
passion for cleaning house, and small rooms in the rear where the 
family lived. The furniture was ponderous, the articles of cooking 



30 



THE PEOPLE OF NEW NETHERLAND. 



[Period I 



were quaint and ungainly to modern eyes, and the huge Dutch 
oven was the pride of the house. 




Stadthuys. 
(Statehouse.) 

Daily Life. — If we are to gather our ideas of the early Dutch 
settlers from Washington Irving^s Knickerbocker's History of Xew 
York, the founders of the metropolis ate breakfast at sunrise, dined 
at eleven, and at sunset went to bed. They ate potatoes, cabbages, 
asparagus, and barley bread ; had plenty of game and poultry for 
their table ; delighted in clams, calling them clippers, and in 
doughnuts, calling them olykoeks ; drank much buttermilk and 
tea, and smoked immoderately. 



Chap. ITI] CUSTOMS of the colony. 31 

Dress. — The hair of the women was ''pomatumed back from 
their foreheads w^itli a candle and covered with a cap of quilted 
calico. ^^ "Their petticoats of linsey-woolsey were striped with a 
variety of gorgeous dyes '''and *' scarce reached below the knee.'' 
Mynheer (min-hcr) wore about his ample form a linsey-wolsey coat, 
the work of his good vrow (frow), as was most of the clothing of the 
family. A hat very low in the crown and very broad in the brim sat 
upon his head ; large brass buttons decked his coat and immense 
shining buckles set off his shoes ; while his many pairs of galligas- 
kins or breeches were drawn on one above another until they ren- 
dered him still more portly than nature intended. 

Religion. — Good natured as their habits show them to be, the 
early Dutch of New York were likewise liberal in their views of 
religious liberty. New Netherland gave a hearty welcome to peace- 
able comers of every religious belief with the same spirit in which 
Holland harbored the Puritans from England. The colony did not 
reach the high standard of perfect religious liberty, first known in 
Ehode Island ; but it stood far in advance of the narrow policy of 
Massachusetts and Virginia. 

There was a recognized religion of the government, that of the 
Dutch Reformed church ; and Stuyvesant, who carried his military 
spirit into religion as well as into politics, tried to drive out a rival 
body, the Lutheran church ; but he was rebuked by the West India 
company, and saw the persecuted sect flourish. A few Quakers 
were banished but for the most part, they were gladly received. 
Catholics, Protestants, and Jews worshipped as they liked ; and in 
the latter days of Dutch dominion there were said to be fourteen 
organized denominations in the province, more indeed than there 
were ministers. 

The first minister, Everardus Bogardus, came with Van Twiller. 
The salary of one of his brother ministers has been left on record 
as being one hundred and fifty beaver skins, lawful coin of the 



32 



THE PEOPLE OF KEW XETHERLAND. 



[Period I 



realm. The minister of !New Netherlands or ^'dominie" as he was 
called, while he was not the important officer that he was in the 
austere Puritan settlements, was held by the jolly burghers in high 
esteem. 

Education. — In the same ship Avith Dominie Bogardus came the 
pioneer school-master of New York State, Adam Eoelandsen. 
Probably as the most of his calling did in those days, he added 
to his income by digging graves, ringing the church bell and 
leading the choir. The patroon act required a school teacher 
to be placed on each of the estates ; and in general the state papers 
of the colony recognized the importance of education. But evi- 
dently the practice of the money-getting settlers did not keep pace 
with their theories. Still they took care that a school teacher 
should be found in every village ; and in one case the tuition was 
announced as two beaver skins a year. In Stuyvesant's time a 
Latin school of some fame was established at New Amsterdam. 

The Result of Dutch Customs can still be easily traced 
among the peoj^le of the first settled 
towns, where an ancestry running back 
to the first comers is often proudly 
claimed. To the Dutch we owe our Santa 
Claus and St. Nicholas, colored eggs at 
Easter, and the custom of New Year's 
calls so lately dying out. 

To the Dutch we owe much that is sub- 
stantial in the growth of the State; though 
Seal OP New netherland, 1G23. often amid change and rapid progress we 
have lost sight of the source. To the Dutch we certainly owe above 
all else the principles of commercial integrity and of far-sighted 
business policy, which, brought from the old Amsterdam to the 
new, became tlie foundation of the greatness of New York State. 




Chap. Ill] SUMMARY OF PERIOD I. 33 

SUMMARY OF EVENTS, — PERIOD FIRST. 

1497-98. Probable voyage of the Cabots past Long Island coast. 
1524. Doubtful discovery of New York bay by Verrazani. 
1609. Hudson's discovery. 

Discovery of Lake Champlain. 

1613. Building of traders' huts on Manhattan island. 

1614. Building of Fort Kassau on Castle island. 
Block's discovery of the Connecticut. 

1615. Champlain's second expedition into New York. 
1621. The Dutch West India company chartered. 

1623. Arrival of the first families in New Netherland. 

1624. May director. 

1625. Verhulst director. 
Brooklyn settled. 

1626. Minuet director-general. 

Manhattan islaiid bought of the Indians. 
1629. Privileges granted to patroons. 
1633. Van Twiller director-general. 

Fort Good Hope built on the Connecticut. 
1638. Kieft director-general. 

Arrival of the Swedes in Delaware. 

1640. War with the Earitan Indians. 

1641. Appointment of the twelve men as representatives. 
1643. Murder of the Indians at Pavonia. 

General Indian outbreak. 
1645. Peace made by the settlers and Iroquois witli the river 

tribes. 
1647. Stuyvesant director-general. 
1653. An assembly of the villages called. 
1655. Dutch conquest of New Sweden. 

Indian outbreak around Manhattan island. 
166L Schenectady founded by Arendt Van Curler. 
1664. Surrender to the English. 



lE^EIESIOID II, 



CHAPTEE ly. 



New York U:n"der the Duke of York. — 1GG4-1688. 

About the time of the discovery of New York, a company of Eng- 
lish Puritans, persecuted for their religion, fled to Holland. They 
asked the Dutch authorities to be allowed to settle in tlie new coun- 
try. They were refused and sailing for English soil landed, as the 
world knows, at Plymouth Rock, on the twenty-first of December, 
1620. This was three years before the arrival of the first families in 
New Netherland. Had the Puritans' request been granted, the 
entire history of America would have been changed. 

The Duke of York. — These men of New England by emi- 
grating to New Netherland helped to accomplish, what the Dutch 
authorities had at first feared, the capture of the province by the 
British crown. Meanwhile in England the Puritans had driven out 
the king and placed Oliver Cromwell at the head of the government. 
Soon after Cromwell's death, however, Charles II. returned to the 
throne, in 1G60 ; and one of his first acts was to give to his brother, 
James, Duke of York, all the land lying between the Connecticut 
and Delaware rivers. The Duke to secure this gift, wliich was not 
his brother's to give, armed and sent out a fieet under the command 
of Colonel Richard Nichols. The easy conquest of Nichols was a 
deed of robbery. There was not even the excuse of war, since Hol- 
land and England were at peace. So that it is little to the credit 
of the conquerors that they offered the surprised garrison favorable 
terms and encouraged the Dutch settlers to remain on their lands. 

(34) 



Chap. IV] THE FIRST ENGLISH GOVERNOR. 35^ 

The Beginning of English Rule.— The eight or nine thousand 
colonists now found themselves in a province named New York, in 
honor of the Duke. New York was the name given to New Am- 
sterdam also, and as if that was not enough, the fort was called 
Fort James and Fort Orange was called Albany from another title 
of the Duke. The director-general became governor ; the burgo- 
masters, magistrates ; the schepens, aldermen ; the schouts, sheriffs; 
the koopmen, secretaries. But the change in the affairs of the 
colony was mostly a change of name. True, the people received 
assurance of religious liberty, equal taxation, toleration of former 
customs and the security of land titles ; but they obtained nothing 
of the coveted New England liberty, no right to elect their officers 
and to levy the taxes. 

The First English Governor, to whom all this power was 
given, was Colonel Nichols himself. The most important of his 
appointments was that of Thomas Willet to be the first mayor of 
New Y^ork city, — a city which was then incorporated after the 
manner of English towns. Nichols had received from the Duke on 
leaving England minute orders for the government of the colony 
which he was expected to seize. These instructions placed in his 
hands more power than the governor of any other English colony 
in America had, — more power than even the Dutch governors had 
possessed. In many respects Nichols was no more able ruler than 
were the Dutch director- generals ; but he had one quality which 
they had not — the tact to manage the people. 

He needed all his ingenuity, for he had to control a people 
two-thirds of whom had customs and a language different from his. 
own ; and he had to levy heavy taxes in order to prepare the forta 
for the expected attempt of Holland to regain the stolen colony. 
He succeeded in making himself more popular with the Dutch than 
with the English. The Puritan inhabitants of Long Island and 
Westchester, a part of the colony then known as Yorkshire, had 



36 FEW YORK UNDER THE DUKE OF YORK. [Period II 

been brought up to believe in the town meetings of New England ; 
and at an assembly called to meet at Hempstead, thirty-four dele- 
gates appeared and asked for the right to elect their officers. This 
they were refused by the governor, and, having nothing else to do, 
obediently agreed to a code of laws made out by the Duke and 
known as ^^The Duke's Laws." 

Neigliboring Colonies. — The grant to the Duke of York was, 
as has been said, of the land between the Connecticut and the Del- 
aware ; and the same paper gave him a claim to all of the islands 
between Cape Cod and Cape May. Connecticut, however, had no 
more intention of giving her settlements on eastern Long Island 
and on the west bank of the Connecticut river to an English colony 
than to the Dutch; but rather than quarrel wdth Nichols, her people 
agreed to leave the disputed boundary to a commission. The men 
thus appointed gave to New York all of Long Island, much to the 
disgust of its eastern towns, and to Connecticut a favorable boun- 
dary on the main land, about indeed as it now remains. 

When Governor Nichols saw such a considerable portion taken 
from the eastern side of his province, he turned to the western 
boundary, and found there a still larger part gone ; for the Duke, 
unknow^n to Nichols, had given to Lord Berkeley and Sir George 
Carteret the land lying between the Hudson and the Delaware. 
To this caprice of the Duke is due the fact that there is a State of 
New Jersey, and that New York is not bounded on the south by 
Delaware bay. For some years still the present State of Delaware 
■was a part of New York until bought by William Penn ; and for a 
long time tribute was exacted from Nantucket and Martha's 
Vineyard. 

Cliauge of (joveruor; Condition of the Colony. — What 
was left of the Duke's grant was quite enough to worry the well- 
meaning Nichols. The "work was hard, the honor and pay small; 
and he obtained his recall. A little later while fighting the very 



Chap. IV] NEW YORK AGAIN A DUTCH COLONY. 3T 

nation from whom lie liad stolen a colony, he was killed. His four 
years' rule must in the main be called creditable, and was espe- 
cially acceptable to the Indians, the importance of whose good will 
he clearly saw. 

In his place came Lord Lovelace, a favorite of the English court, 
who soon incurred the dislike of the people. Ten towns sent in a 
petition against unjust taxation, only to have their paper burned 
by the common hangman and to be told by their governor that 
"the people should have liberty for no thought but how to pay 
their taxes." Still the colony was not entirely mismanaged. The 
Hollanders were encouraged to mingle with the English and to 
adopt the customs of their rulers. The Indians were kept on 
friendly terms and their lands fairly bought. 

But in the decade following the surrender of Stuyvesant the col- 
ony did not prosper. The trade with England did not equal the 
interrupted traffic with Holland ; wars in Europe prevented immi- 
gration and interfered with commerce. A letter to the Duke 
described Long Island as '^^A'ery poor and inconsiderable, and besides 
the city of New York," said the writer, "there are but two Dutch 
towns of any importance, Esopus and Albany." New York city 
contained less than four hundred houses ; though it appears as a 
sign of progress that a line of post messengers was at this time 
established between that city and Boston, along paths marked bj 
blazed trees. 

New York again a Dutch Colony. — The Dutch Republic was 
now at war with England. Holland had already by treaty given up 
her claims to New York in return for Dutch Guiana (ge-il'-na), and 
other territory much more profitable in those days than New Neth- 
erland had been. A large Dutch fleet coasting off Chesapeake bay 
in the summer of 1673 captured a vessel carrying some passengers 
from New York to Virginia. From these the Dutch learned of the 
dilapidated condition of Fort James, that the fort had but about 



38 NEW YOEK UNDEK THE DUKE OF YORK. [Period II 

thirty cannon and a garrison of seventy-five men, and that Gov- 
ernor Lovelace was visiting his neighbors at New Haven. 

The fleet of twenty-three ships with sixteen hundred men aboard 
anchored off Sandy Hook and was joyfully visited by some of the 
Dutch citizens of New York. In a few days the ships passed 
through the Narrows and approached the city. Captain Manning, 
who had been, under Nichols, the first English commander at 
Albany, was now in the absence of Governor Lovelace in charge of 
New York city. He called upon the citizens for help ; but many 
of them were now as anxious to go back to Dutch authority as they 
had been to leave it nine years before. They spiked all the cannon 
within their reach and gathered militia to help the invaders. 

Manning demanded of Cornelis Evertsen, the admiral in com- 
mand of the fleet, " Why do you disturb his majesty's subjects in 
this place ?" and received in reply, ^^The place is our own and our 
own we will have."' Manning asked for a day to think about it ; 
he was given half an hour. When the sands of Evertsen's hour 
glass showed the half-hour, the Dutch gave the fort a broadside, 
killed some of the garrison and in return received some damage 
from the guns of the fort. Meanwhile some of the ships moving 
above the city landed six hundred men at the foot of the modern 
Wall street. This number was SAvelled to a thousand by eager citi- 
zens, and with Anthony Colve at their head they began their march 
down Broadway. The gutters of the street would soon have run 
with the blood of citizens capturing their own city had not Captain 
Colve met a messenger from Manning with an offer of surrender. 
After nine years of English rule. New York, taken fairly in time 
of war, was again in Dutch possession. 

The Last of Dutch Rule. — The other settlements surrendered 
at once, and New Jersey readily came back under the sway of tlie 
troops at New York city, or rather at New Orange, as the place 
was re-named. The victorious admiral put the province under 



Chap, n'] 



ADMIN'ISTRATIOiN' OF ANDROS. 



39 



military law and appointed the rougli and pompous Captain Colve 
as governor. He was planning a government for the colony when 
he received important orders from Holland. That nation liad, six 
months after tlio capture of New York, made a treaty of peace with 
England. In this treaty each country agreed to deliver to the other 
all territory captured during the war. So when Colve had cared 
for the colony for fifteen months, he quietly gave it up on the arrival 
of the English officers sent to receive it. 

The Reason for the Dutch surrendering a colony unfairly taken 
away and honestly regained, does not plainly appear ; either they 
had so promised before aware of the complete conquest of Admiral 
Evertsen, or they feared that they could not hold the territory against 
the encroachments of the neighboring English, or, as is most prob- 
able, they did not know the full value of a colony which had 
already cost them more than it had returned. At least, true it is 
that England thus secured an uninterrupted coast line from Maine 
to Georgia and made a United States possible. ^' Our country ob- 
tained geographical unity." 

Administration of Andros. — In November, 1674, New York 

finally passed from the hands 
of the Dutch to remain for one 
hundred years an English prov- 
ince. The Duke of York 
tightened his grasp on the 
colony; to cover all doubt he 
secured a new grant from the 
king ; he gave again New Jer- 
sey to Carteret and sent to New 
York as governor. Major Ed- 
mund Andros, who, he doubt- 
ed not, would be thoroughly 
alive to his master's interests. 
GovERNui; ANDKoa. For ten years Major Andros 




40 NEW YORK UKDER THE DUKE OF YORK. [Period II 

was busy with the affairs of the colony ; now he was penetrating into 
the far west of the unsettled Mohawk valley, viewing tlie fertile 
flats and making friends of the Indians ; now he was sending to 
Martha's Vineyard to assert the claims of the Duke. He assumed 
that ^ew Jersey was still under his control, and went so far as to 
arrest Governor Carteret. He renewed the old contest with Con- 
necticut, landed in force at Saybrook and demanded the surrender of 
the fort. Being refused he read the grant of the Duke and his own 
commission ; and when these selections did not soften the hearts of 
the Connecticut Puritans, Andros sailed sadly home. 




View of the Water Gate (Wall Street) in Andros' Administration. 

Condition of the Colony, — In 1678, Governor Andros while 
visiting England left on record an account of his colony. New York 
since Stuyvesant's surrender had doubled its eight thousand inhabi- 
tants ; about three thousand of these were in New York city. This 
place was built up at the expense of the rest of the province by the 
bolting act, which for many years gave the city the sole right of 
bolting and exporting flour from the colony. 

But its growth was slow compared with its progress in the nine- 
teenth century ; at the close of the seventeenth century the north- 



Chap. IV] CON-DITION" OF THE COLONY. 41 

ern limit of the city was a palisade wall, the present Wall street. 
Beyond this were a few houses here and there, a burying ground, 
and a few huge Dutch wind-mills ; further on, farms, and then a 
rocky wilderness. A mile from the town, the law allowed wood to 
be cut ; in the numerous ponds, fresh water fish could be taken ; 
the hunting too was good, probably, for a visitor tells of treeing a 
bear in an orchard where Maiden Lane now is. 

In the city itself, the fort was the first object that greeted the 
sight of the ships coming up the bay ; within this was a church ; 
and leading from it was a *' Broad way." Within the corporation 
were numerous swamps, ponds and creeks, and there had been ill- 
smelling tanneries and slaughter houses, which were then ordered 
out of the city limits. North of the city, where the Tombs prison 
is now, was a lake known as the Fresh Water pond. Six public 
wells were dug in the middle of the streets, not so much for the: 
bad-tasting water as for a protection against fire. 

Long Island. — Two English visitors at this time tell how they 
were rowed across East river in the ferry boat ; upon landing they 
went ''up a hill, along open roads and woody places, and through 
a village called Breuckelen, (Brooklyn), which has a small ugly 
church in the middle of the road." They slept in the house of one 
Simon DeHart, a house still standing, and supped on oysters, veni- 
son, and wild turkey. They were surprised at the apples, peaches, 
grapes, and ''great heaps of watermelons." All kind of fish 
abounded ; oysters were plentiful ; drift whales were frequently cast 
upon the beach of the island ; while off the coast, whalers could cap- 
ture their huge game. 

The Civilization. — In the eastern part of Long Island schools 
were well sustained ; but elsewhere the children of the colonists 
were no better educated than under Dutch rule. Some of the peo- 
ple could afford to have private teachers ; some sent their children 



42 NEW YORK UNDER THE DUKE OF YORK. [Period II 

to New England schools ; but the mass of the people were ignorant 
and superstitious. As a result many of the laws were barbarous ; 
stealing might be punished with death ; or the thief was branded 
with a T on the cheek ; stocks, pillories, placards and other means 
of exciting derision were common punishments. The Sunday laws 
were strict ; the Connecticut blue laws were scarcely more so. ^' No 
youths, maydes or other persons, '' said the law, " may meet together 
for sporte or play.^' 

Trade and Money. — No pedlers were allowed to compete with 
the regular tradesmen of the place, except that Indians might bring 
in wood and long strips of bark for gutters or eaves-troughs. These 
neighboring Indians, in the great lack of servants, were often en- 
slaved until a law of the colony forbade ; but the traffic in negroes 
thrived and the common price paid for a slave was one hundred and 
fifty dollars. Dollars and cents were of course not known ; and al- 
though large sums were reckoned in English pounds and shillings, 
yet Dutch guilders, Indian wampum and beaver skins were the com- 
mon money in business. The bare necessities and a few comforts 
■contented the people ; a little ready money went a long ways ; five 
thousand dollars was a fortune, while half that sum made a rich 
man. 

The colony shipped from its ports, wheat, tar, lumber, tobacco 
and especially pelts and furs. On goods brought to the port of New 
York there was a duty of two per cent, if they came from England; 
while goods from other countries paid ten per cent. These rates 
were not so burdensome as were the taxes on property and produce ; 
which duties were established in the early days of English rule and 
still continued. 

The Dongan Charter. — That these taxes and laws did not 
please the people their protests and petitions leave no doubt. Even 
Andros, ever a friend of arbitrary power, counseled the Duke to 
give the people a voice in the government. When William Penn 



Chap. IV] 



dongan's administration. 



43 



added his advice, the proprietor yiehled and promised an assembly. 
He did not trust this work to Andros, but giving him other duties, 
sent Thomas Dongan to be governor. Of Thomas Dongan it can 
be said, that he was the first governor of New York who had the 




Governor Dongan's House. 

"breadth of brain and the trueness of heart whicli make a statesman. 
He first accorded to the common man of the colony his rights ; 
ignoring petty quarrels at home and with neighboring colonies, he 
disclosed and combated the encroachments of the great enemy to 
English rule in New York and in America, — the French. 

According to his instructions his first act was to call an assem- 
bly of seventeen from New York city, Long Island, Staten Island, 
Esopus, Albany, Kensselaerwick, Pemaquid, and Martha's Vine- 
yard to act with the council of ten in forming a constitution. On 
the seventeenth of October, 1683, some seventy-five years after the 
discovery of New York, the representatives of the citizens adopted 
a charter for their own government. Other colonies had charters 
brought from England ; this constitution was the product of 



44 



NEW YORK UNDER THE DUKE OF YORK. [Period II 



America. By its terms, ^' Supreme power shall forever be and 
reside in the governor, council and people met in general assem- 
bly/^ It secured the right to vote, trial by jury, taxation by the 
assembly, and complete religious freedom. By its order an assem- 
bly of twenty-one representatives was to meet once in three years ; 
and in order to apportion the members the colony was divided into 




The Colcnt op New York, showing the Original Ten Counties. 



Chap. IV] DIVISION INTO TWO parties. i5 

ten* counties : Suffolk, Queens, Kings, New York, Riclimond and 
Westchester, which remain nearly as first constituted, and Orange, 
Ulster, Dutchess and Albany, which have since been divided. 

The Charter Revoked.— Although this charter was ratified by 
the Duke, it was a matter of bargain ; for he stipulated that the 
assembly should in return vote heavy taxes. Soon he openly disre- 
garded his pledge by levying taxes without the consent of the peo- 
ple. Two years after he agreed to the charter, by the death of his 
brother, Charles II., he became king with the title of James II. 
He then began to plot the complete subjection of all the American 
colonies to his will. He undertook to unite all the northern colo- 
nies except Pennsylvania under one governor. For this purpose he 
chose Edmund Andros and stationed him at Boston. Not finding 
Governor Dongan a fit tool he sent to New York one Nicholson, as 
lieutenant-governor under Andros. 

Two Parties. — This quick destruction of their long sought 
liberty stirred up a rebellious feeling more fierce than the spirit 
which in earlier days prompted petitions and protests. But the 
people no longer were united in their action; they were slowly divid- 
ing into two parties. One class known as aristocrats or tories was 
made up of the soldiers and the many royal officers stationed in the 
colony ; to these were added many of the settlers, who grown rich 
were aping the customs and ideas of the aristocratic party of Eng- 
land. Against the combination of tories, governor and king, the 
party of the people, the democratic party, waged a long and deter- 
mined contest. Bitterness was added to the struggle at this time 
by religious troubles. James II. was a catholic ; and he had 
ordered Governor Dongan to introduce that religion as the estab- 
lished form. But Dongan, himself a catholic, would do nothing 



* There 'were twelve counties in the colony as'then claimed. Duke's county included 
Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket; Cornwall county was Pemaquid, the land between the 
Kennebec and Penobscot rivers, granted the Duke witli New York. 



46 NEW YORK UNDER THE DUKE OF YORK. [Period II 

that was intolerant or illiberal. Still the protestants of the colony 
were too ready to imagine ^' Popish plots," some of them having 
suffered many things for the sake of their religion in the old 
countries. 

The English Revolution of 1688. — While the colonists were 
thus stirred up about matters of religion and politics, they were 
more excited by the news that the English people after enduring 
for three years the reign of James II., had welcomed to their shores 
William of Orange, stadtholder of Holland, with his army, and 
had forced James to flee into France. This was the Revolution of 
1G88, a revolution without a battle, a victory of parliament over 
king ; for from this time parliament was supreme and the power 
of the king decreased. 

The people of New York heard of the crowning of William with 
joy, the more because he was a protestant and a Dutchman. When 
they learned that the citizens of Massachusetts had put the unpop- 
ular Andros in prison they were undecided whether or not to obey 
Nicholson, he being the officer of the deposed monarch. All things 
were unsettled and the weak-willed Nicholson was not the man for 
the time. Such a man, however was found. 

Jacob Leisler. — There lived in the colony a certain man, a 
native of Germany, a zealot in religion, of little learning, rich, 
brave, and an intense lover of liberty. His name was Jacob Leis- 
ler. To him, being a captain of colonial troops, came the dissatisfied 
band of militia which then happened to be on duty. They persuaded 
him to lead them in an effort to take the fort from the control of 
Nicholson. When Nicholson proved himself too weak to force an 
issue and sailed for England, Leisler entered the stronghold and 
took upon himself the duties of governor. 

He was the first man who came from the people to rule the peo- 
ple. Rebel, fanatic and usurper he may have been ; patriot, hero 



Chap. IV] JACOB LEISLER. 47 

and martyr, he surely was. The council refused to act with him 
and withdrew to Albany, where they resisted the force under Leis- 
ler's son-in-law Milborne, until forced by fear of the invasion of the 
French from Canada, to admit the troojis of the usurper. 

Administration of Leisler. — The head of the colony styled 
himself lieutenant-governor and was earnest and active in carrying 
out the perplexing duties of the position. He sent an army against 
the French who were invading the Mohawk valley and had burned 
Schenectady ; he joined with the men of New England in an expe- 
dition by sea to Canada ; he improved the fort at New York, 
planting about it a battery of six guns, which marks the place and 
gives the name to the modern park, the Battery ; he sent evidence 
of his faithfulness to King "William and of his readiness to give up 
the colony to the governor sent by his majesty. His mind saw 
beyond the bounds of one colony and took in the needs of the 
colonial brotherhood. He was the first man to propose a conven- 
tion of the American provinces. But he was a century ahead of 
the people. 

Arrest of Leisler. — Meanwhile nearly two years of Leisler's 
rule were past and the year 1691 came before Sloughter, the gov- 
ernor appointed by the new king arrived in New York. It hap- 
pened that Captain Richard Ingoldsby, in charge of Sloughter^s 
troops, reached New York long before his commander. Ingoldsby 
demanded the fort and was refused on the ground that he had no 
authority to govern the colony. Leisler resisted a siege and 
defended his post even to the shedding of blood ; but at the same 
time he declared himself ready to give up his position v>^hen Slough- 
ter should appear and present his credentials. And so he did. But 
no sooner was Sloughter in office than the enemies of Leisler caused 
his arrest, and in their bitter hatred secured a sentence of death. 
When they seemed likely to be baffled by Sloughter's dislike to sign 



48 NEW YORK UNDER THE DUKE OF YORK. [Period II 

tlie death warrant, they called to their murderous design the ready 
help of liquor, plied tlie governor with wine at a party, and from 
tlie drunken man obtained his signature. 

Two days later, on a Saturday morning of May, 1691, as most 
accounts say, Sloughter lay in a drunken slumber. Without the 
rain fell and through its beating, Leisler and Milborne were led 
to the gallows. About them the people crowded ready to rush for- 
ward at their death and seize some memento. To the sheriff asking 
" if he were ready to die,^^ Leisler answered " Yes.^' As the hand- 
kerchief was put about his face, he said, '' I hope these eyes shall 
see our Lord Jesus Christ in Heaven. I am ready. ^' Thus died 
the champion of a cause, which by his death was aroused to victory. 
With Bacon of Virginia, he was in spirit the ancestor of the Revo- 
lutionary heroes. Before the waning century was gone, his body 
was raised to lie in state, a royal governor did honor to his mem- 
ory, and the parliament of England relieved his family and exon- 
erated his administration. 



^iH 




'a^ccnf.^p^^d^ 



AuTOGiiAPU OF Leisler. 



CHAPTER V. 



The French ii^ New York.— 1642-1713. 

New York and New France.— For seventy years New York 
stood in tlie front rank of tlie English colonies struggling with the 
French for the possession of North America. New France, a name 
given to Nova Scotia, New Foundland, Canada and the valley of 
the Mississippi, embraced also, as the French would have it, that 
part of the present State of New York, from which the water flows 
into the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence. 

On the other hand the New York colonists claimed that these 
lakes and the river themselves were their northern boundaries, using 
the poor argument that Charles II. had thus specified in his grant, 
and giving as a much better reason that the land in dispute was 
occupied by their allies, the Iroquois. 

French Missionaries among the Iroqnois.— In 1642, some 
twenty-five years after Champlain failed to establish the arms of 
France in New York, Isaac Jogues, (zhog), a Jesuit priest, scholar 
and traveller, was dragged from his canoe on the St. Lawrence by 
a band of Iroquois and carried to their towns on the Mohawk. He 
ran the gauntlet and suffered the keenest tortures ; he finally 
reached New Amsterdam, went back to Canada and returned as a 
missionary to the Indians. With woods for a chapel and a cross 
cut in the bark of a tree he was the first preacher of Christ's gospel 
among the red men of New York. 

Condition of the Iroquois. — The tribe among whom Jogues 
preached and soon suffered death was the Mohawk. These were 
the fiercest of the Iroquois and the tribe most friendly to the Dutch 

(19) 



50 THE FRENCH IK KEAV YORK. [Period II 

and English. They lived nearest the whites, westward from Albany, 
along the river named from them. The Iroquois, however, had no 
fixed location, changing their villages as the soil was impoverished. 
A general idea of the situation of the Five Nations may be had from 
the five bodies of water and the four counties named from the 
tribes. The Mohawks long dwelt on the land of Montgomery 
county. At the extreme west of the ^' Long House/^ as the Iroquois 
termed their territory, were the Senecas, by far the most numerous 
of the tribes. 

The total number of the Iroquois at that time could not have 
been much over ten thousand.* Of these, about two thousand 
were warriors, who might be found now on the banks of the St. 
Lawrence, and now sailing in birch bark canoes to the mouth of the 
Ohio. The old men, the women and the children remained in vil- 
lages called castles ; these were composed of long, bark or framed 
houses, each holding many families and all surrounded with a 
palisade. 

Progress of the Jesuits. — These towns soon after the death of 
Jogues were visited by many French Catholic priests, anxious to 
convert the savages, if miglit be, intent, at all events, on making 
the Iroquois friendly to Canada. One of the missionaries, Father 
La Moyne (moin) visited the Onondagas, there tasted a well which 
they said was infested with evil spirits and thus discovered the 
great salt springs of central New York. La Moyne, at the deceitful 
invitation of the Indians, brought up the Oswego river a colony of 
fifty Frenchmen, who on the shore of Onondaga lake made the 
first French settlement in New York. This happened in the 
administration of Stuyvesant. But the adventurous band soon saw 
the murderous purpose of their pretending friends and fled. Yet 

* There were in 1880, according to the census, about the same number of their descend- 
ants ill various parts of the United States and Canada. The number, contrary to the general 
idea, is not decreasing. 



Chap. V] THE JESUITS IK NEW YORK. 51 

on the whole the Jesuits made progress ; they met craftiness with 
greater craftiness and gained converts while Dutch and English 
preachers, who could not adapt themselves to the savage ways, 
made little headway. 

Invasion of New York.— The Jesuits were finally defeated in 
their efforts to ally the Indians to the French by the fickle and 
deceitful nature of the Indians and by the interference of the French 
soldiers impatient of the slow progress of the priests. A foolhardy 
company of daring men, in dead of winter of 16G6 came up the 
frozen Sorel and Lake Champlain ; but upon hearing that the 
wide-awake English and not the slow-going Dutch then held the 
fort at Albany, they quietly returned. 

Still again in pleasanter weather of the same year thirteen hun- 
dred Canadians and Indians came over the same route and destroyed 
the Mohawk towns. These were the first of the score of like expe- 
ditions, which made the name of the French a terror to the child 
of New York, which undid the work of the priests, but which 
extended little the borders of New France. 

The French in Western New York.— After the expeditions 
of 1666, there were twenty years of peace. Meanwhile the French 
coveted New York ; and so much did the rulers of Canada value 
the position of the English in the Hudson valley that they proposed 
to their king to purchase the territory, -which,^' as they wrote, 
-would render His Majesty master of all North America." Not 
able to buy the Hudson valley the French governors determined 
to try force once more upon the Five Nations. One governor on 
pretense of making peace enticed to Fort Frontenac* (fron-te-nac), 
a band of Iroquois and thereupon murdered some and sent others 
to France a^ slaves. Thus to break a truce was the blackest of 
crimes to a n Indian, and henceforth it was war to the knife. 

^^^^ ^3^il^i, «„ Lake Ontario, had been put up by a {jovenior of 

thatlme^ca^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^ -^^ ^' ^^^^^^^ nowstandson 

the spot. 



52 THE FRENCH IN" NEW YORK. [Period II 

Soon after, the Canadian governor landed at Irondequoit bay and 
defeated the Senecas in Ontario county, near the town of Victor ; 
then sailing to the moutli of the Niagara river, he landed on the 
New York side, and built Fort Niagara. Thereupon Governor 
Dongan, unwilling to see the French hold this passage to the west, 
sent a i3rotest, claiming the land to be '^within my Master's terri- 
toryes without question." The Five Nations were more excited by 
the encroachment than Dongan, and without his aid they so harassed 
the little garrison that they were glad to escape from the new fort. 
The terrified fugitives did not stop at Fort Frontenac but blew up 
that stronghold and withdrew to the island of Montreal. Even 
here they were besieged by the Indians and all Canada shivered 
before the avenging fury of the Iroquois. 

Frontenac. — At this critical period, Count Frontenac, once 
before governor of Canada and now an old man, returned to redeem 
the colony. Since Champlain, he was the most notable figure of 
New France. lie could assume the paint and fury of a savage and 
yell with them in the war dance ; he could lead his troops through 
tangled woods, when from the weakness of years he must be carried 
in a chair. He now made j^eace witlithe Iroquois as best he could, 
and since war had broken out between England and France, known 
in the colonies as King William's war, he made ready to strike a 
blow upon the English. 

Burning of Schenectady. — In the winter of 1G90 he sent an 
army of two hundred, half of whom were Indians, over Lake 
Champlain. In the midst of a driving snow they came to the most 
westerly town of New York, Schenectady. It was eleven o'clock at 
night, and the Dutch inhabitants slept in the fifty or more houses 
huddled within palisades. The gates of the weak fortification were 
open, and no guards were there excej^t sentinels of snow 2)ut up in 
l^lay by the boys. The black forms moved silently until distributed 
through the place. Then there was a yell, the crashing of doors 
and horrid butchery. A few escaped in niglit clotlies and froze 



Chap. V] QUEEN ANNE'S WAR. 53 

their feet in an attempt to reach Albany ; some were spared ; some 
were kept for torture ; while sixty, among them twelve children, 
were fortunate enough to meet a speedy death. By noon the city 
of Van Curler was in ashes, and the victors were hurrying on snow 
shoes to Montreal. 

Raids of the Frencli and English.— Three years later a like 
expedition frightened even the people of New York city, but suc- 
ceeded simply in burning a few Mohawk towns and then returned. 
After another three years Frontenac changed his course, entered New 
York by Lake Ontario and destroyed the castles of the Onondagas 
and Oneidas. The Indians took to the woods at the invasion of the 
immense force, and but one warrior, a man of eighty or more years, 
was caught. Him the Indians with Frontenac tied to a tree and 
tortured with knives. ''You had better," said he, ''let me die by 
fire, that these French dogs may learn to die like men." This 
Indian was the only one killed by an invasion designed to extermi- 
nate the Iroquois. 

The small armies sent by New York and by some of the near col- 
onies to beat back the French and to enter Canada accomplished 
little. They either found the difficulties of march too great, or 
quarreled about their leaders and disbanded. The most notable 
leader of New York forces at the time was the mayor of Albany, 
Peter Schuyler. He penetrated to the banks opposite Montreal 
and gave the French a long remembered whipping. These excur- 
sions back and forth were stopped by the death of Frontenac and 
by the treaty of Ryswick (riz'wik) between France and England. 

Queen Anne's War.— The treaty fixed no boundaries between 
the colonies, and as the mother countries were soon at war again, the 
children in America were quick to take up the quarrel. This time 
it was resolved to drive the French entirely from Canada. In 
1709 and again two years later large parties well equipped gathered. 



54 THE FRENCH IN" NEW YORK. [Period II 

at Albany to march into Canada and to meet another party sailing 
from Boston up the St. Lawrence. The expeditions by sea were 
disgraceful failures, and the armies from Albany did not reach the 
head of Lake Champlain ; the result was a burdensome debt upon 
the colony. As the other colonies were shieMed by New York, they 
were asked to help pay the expenses of the war ; but with a few 
exceptions they neglected to send money or men. 

New York's Weakness and Strength in War. — The separate- 
ness and mutual jealousies of the English colonies were a source of 
weakness. The French, less in number, won by unity and push. 
New York was furthermore at a disadvantage in the contest on ac- 
count of the quarrels with the governors, into wliose hands the 
assembly feared to put a strong force. The farmer colonists too 
were not easily aroused to war ; but in the long run they were more 
than a match for traders, hunters and professional soldiers. Their 
families and harvests gave a steady increase to New York ; while 
the Canadian colony, depending largely for recruits and for bread 
upon the slow-coming ships from France, grew little in population 
and was at times on the point of starvation. 

New York, moreover, was strong in the help of the Iroquois ; in 
fact the English presumed too much on their red allies and often, 
after promising help and supplies, left the Indians to fight alone. 
How the struggle would end was not then decided, for the war, 
known as Queen Anne's war, was closed by the treaty of Utrecht 
(u-trek). By this treaty the French acknowledged that the Iro- 
quois owned the land south of the St. Lawrence and of the Great 
Lakes. And with this comfort New York turned to arrange her 
neglected affairs at home. 



CHAPTER VI. 



A Half Century of Ei^glish Kule.— 1691-1744. 

The Successors of Leisler. — Internal strife had been bitter 
during the early struggles with the French. The two parties 
which had grown up in the colony were known as the Leislerians 
and the anti-Leislerians ; of these the Leislerians or democratic 
faction was the larger ; while the aristocratic party had the active 
support of the government of the colony. The management of 
affairs was not long in Sloughter's hands, for his drunken habits 
brought his death within a few months after the hanging of Leis- 
ler. He was followed by Benjamin Fletcher, a man of little ability 
but of strong passions, a poor governor but a good soldier. He 
moved his troops so swiftly up the Hudson to oppose the French 
that the approving Indians named him '' Ca-yen-gui-ra-go," — "Great 
Swift Arrow."' He placed the enemies of Leisler in office and made 
offensive efforts to establish the English church in the colony. It 
was through him that Trinity church was at this time (1G96) estab- 
lished. He was intent too on introducing the English language more 
completely ; for although it was now thirty years after the surrender 
of Stuyvesant, the Dutch were still in the majority and their speech 
was the language of business. 

New York Surrounded with Dangers.— During the seven 
years following 1690, the colony had its hands full with the war 
with France and the management of the Five Nations. These 
affairs Governor Fletcher was wise enough to trust largely to the 
skilful management of Peter Schuyler. New York seemed beset 
with difficulties; for about this time bands of pirates became a 

(55) 



^6 A HALF CENTURY OF ENGLISH RULE. [Period II 

terror along the American coast. They were so bold that they even 
entered the bay and in sight of New York city captured merchant 
vessels and made safely off. 

Probably the pirates were in league with officers of the govern- 
ment, perhaps with the governor himself. Captain William Kidd, 
a well known shipmaster, was sent against them. He took his well 
equipped ship, ran up the black flag and became the prince of 
pirates. He was afterward hanged and his fabled treasures have 
been often dug for deep down in the soil of Long Island. 

The First Democratic Governor. — It was to suppress these 
robber crafts that the English government recalled Fletcher and 
sent in his place an Irish gentleman, the Earl of Bellomont. This 
change was however more important to the colony because Bello- 
mont as a member of parliament had defended the deeds and 
character of Leisler ; so that upon coming to the colony he joined 
himself to the Leislerian party. 

During his administration, which occupied the very last years of 
the seventeenth century, the assembly was dismissed and a new one 
called; for the act creating an assembly first granted and then 
recalled by James II. was restored under King William. The 
members, then nineteen in number^ were elected by the people for 
no definite time but held office at the will of the governor. The 
assembly might remain for years ; it might any day be dissolved. 
Over its acts the governor had an absolute veto. There was also a 
council of seven to twelve men, appointed by the king or governor, 
who had something of the power of a modern State senate, or as 
Governor Fletcher said, *'they are in the nature of the House of 
Lords.'' The new assembly, elected in Bellomont's administration, 
was largely democratic, showing that the sentiment of the colony 
favored the friends of Leisler. All things seemed favorable to the 
security of the common citizen of New York, when Bellomont died. 



Chap. VI] 



cornbury's administration. 



57 



Cornbury. — After an interval in which the senior member of the 
council as lieutenant-governor had charge of the colony, Lord Corn- 
bury, in the second year of the eighteenth century arrived at New 
York as governor ; soon after, he became governor also of New 
Jersey.* Tyrannical in his rule, loose in morals, dishonest in busi- 
ness, he was the first of the grasping, insolent governors of New York 
who drove the peace-loving people to join in a war against the gov- 
ernment of England. 

The Assembly versus the Governor .—All the disputes be- 
tween the people of the colony, represented by the assembly, and 
the government of England, represented by the governor, centered 
in the question of taxation. As the Revolution of 1688 in England 
had established the principle that the people can be taxed by their 




New York City in 1704. 

*The proprietors of New Jersey at this time snrrendered their claims to the crown, and for thlrty- 
c years that province, althou^ keeping its own assembly, was under the governor of New York. 



58 A HALF CENTURY OF ENGLISH RULE. [Period II 

representatives only, so the assembly of New York, chosen by the 
citizens, assumed and maintained that they alone could tax the 
people of New York. They submitted to the Navigation Laws 
which exacted revenue from the ocean trade, but they themselves 
imposed all internal taxes. Here lay the advantage of the colony in 
the struggle against the despotic power of the rulers. No fixed 
amount was paid the governor but bountiful sums were voted for a 
year or for a term of years for his support. As Cornbury, like 
many other governors, took the place for the money in it, if the 
assembly wished his signature to a bill or his order to carry out any 
project, they withheld the revenue until he came to terms. ''We 
must surrender once a year," said a disgusted governor of New 
York. 

The Assembly Takes Control of the Revenue.— Then the 

people took anotlier step toward freedom. They had at first given 
money to the governor to lay out as he thought best ; later they 
named the items and the amounts to be applied to each object. 
At one time the assembly voted seven thousand dollars* to erect 
forts at the Narrows, where Forts Hamilton and LaFayette now 
stand. The money disa])peared in Cornbury's pocket. Then the 
assembly appointed a treasurer ; and thenceforth the governor could 
get but the sums voted him. These amounts were not small ; the 
salary of a governor was generally from five thousand to ten thousand 
dollars. This was a small part however of his revenue ; since appro- 
priations for various items were lavishly given, Cornbury receiving 
nine thousand dollars for his expenses in crossing the ocean. Dur- 
ing this man's administration the people advanced more rapidly 
toward freedom than under the favorable rule of Bollomont. The 
two warring political factions united in one party of opposition to 
the governor. 

•Money wji-H rai^^od Inreoly by poll tax : this tax was not equal for every man, but about 
a.H follows, chanelnir En^Mish money to a similar amount in United States curr.'ncy : -Every 
friM-man between sixteen and sixty. 18 cenLs : baehelors over t#bntvtive years of a^e 66 
oonta ; a muu wearing u wijj gl.io ; a lawyer, $5 ; a member of assembly $10. 



Chap. VI] 



SOME OF THE LEADING MEN. 



59 



The leading men of the colony at this time were Peter Schuy- 
ler*, William Smith, Lewis Morris and Robert Livingston. Three 
of these men, Schuyler, Morris and Livingston, were of families 
renowned in American history; two, Morris and Livingston, were 
the grandfathers of signers of the Declaration of Independence. 




Peter Sca 



* Peter Schuyler, a Dutchman, was the great man of early English rule. He was made 
mayor of Albany by Dongan, and for a long time was iu charge of the Indian affairs of tlie 
colony. Like Van Curler he had unbounded influence over the Iroquois by whom he wa.s 
greatly admired. He was known among them as Brother " Quidder," that being as nearly 
as they could pronounce Peter, He married in the Van Rensselaer family, took a promi- 
nent part in colonial politics and for a time was acting governor. His family was to gain 
greater renown during t^e Revolution from his nephew, General Philip Schuyler. 

William Smith, an English immigrant, was long a leader of the party of the people. 



His 



60 A HALF CENTURY OF ENGLISH RULE. [Period II 

The Last of Cornbury's Rule. — The administration of Corn- 
bury is a ciiapter of unjust deeds. At one time the small pox and 
yellow fever raged in the city and drove him and his officers to 
Jamaica, Long Island. The Presbyterian minister of the place 
offered him his house. The governor managed to turn the parson- 
age over to the church of England together with the only meeting 
house of the village, one built by the Presbyterians. For such 
acts he was heartily detested by the people. He was in debt to 
many of the store-keepers of New York city, and when removed 
from office by his cousin Queen Anne he was thrown into prison 
until released by a timely legacy. 

Governor Hunter.— This was about the beginning of Queen 
Anne's war and after one or two others had for a short time tried 
their hands at tlie helm, Robert Hunter came to govern the colony. 
In learning and in polished manners he was the ablest of the Eng- 
lish governors ; but he was unfit for the unpleasant tasks before 
him. The failure of tlie expeditions of 1709 and the following 
years angered the Iroquois and threw the colony into debt. To 
meet the obligations paper money was for the first time issued, and 
this soon became wortli but a third of its face value. The assembly 
refused to grant revenue but for a single year, and withal Governor 
Hunter had little heart for a contest with that obstinate body. He 
took in the situation at once and wrote home, — ''The colonies are 
infants at their mother's breasts, but such as will wean themselves 
when they become of age." 

son wrote the first history of New York, but deserted the cause of the people during the 
Revolution. 

Lewis Morris, of Welch parentage, was a native of New York. His father, a soldier in 
Cromwell's army, bought a tract of land near Ilarlem, calling it Jlorrisania, (sa), now a part 
of New York city. Lewis Morris befriended New Jersey and was in 1733 the first separate 
royal governor of that colony. 

Robert Livingston was a Scotchman who bought a tract of land south of the estate of the 
Van Ilensselaers on the east bank of the Hudson and became one of the rich patroons or 
lords of the manor. He was appointed by Governor Andros secretary of the first board of 
commissioners of Indian affairs. He led the opposition to Leisler but later joined the cause 
of the people against the corrupt and knavish Combury. 



Chap. VI] THE INDIAN TRADE. 61 

The Population: Number. — A sturdy infant the colony was 
already. The opening of the new century found 20,000 inhabi- 
tants. At tlie quarter, (1725), the number was twice as many, — 
40,000 ; at the half century the number was again doubled, and 
when another twenty-five years brought 1775 and the close of Eng- 
lish rule, the population, doubled again, was 160,000.* 

Distribution. — The people were filling the Hudson valley, 
spreading over Orange and Ulster counties and further north they 
were looking longingly to the land where the Mohawk would easily 
carry them. In this valley Schenectady was long the last town ; 
the land beyond, which remained unsettled from fear of the French 
and their Indian allies, was known as the Indian country. But 
nothing could long keep the settlers from tilling this rich low-lying 
land. They planned to possess the hunting grounds of the Iroquois, 
they cheated and maddened the savages at times, but they got the 
land. 

A fort was built at the mouth of Schoharie creek and named from 
Governor Hunter. This officer with a visionary and costly scheme 
of colonization brought to America three thousand Germans from 
the persecuted district of the Palatinate (pa-lat'-i-nate). Some of 
these people, disappointed in the places provided for them along 
the Hudson, pushed westward from Schenectady and marked their 
settlements with the names Palatine Bridge and German Flats. 

Occupation ; the Indian Trade. — The colonists were in these 
times largely farmers ; still sailors and fishermen were a consider- 
able part of the people of New York city and of Long Island; while 
many trappers and traders made Albany their headquarters and 
carried tlieir dangerous business as far as Lake Superior. In tliis 
Indian trade the French had the advantage of position ; but the 
English at Albany could afford to give the Indians nearly twice as 

* The exact figures are, in 1703, J»0,665; 1723, 40,5G4; 1749, 73,Mi; 1771, 163,337 —American 

Cyclopcedia. 



62 A HALF CENTURY OF EJSTGLISH RULE. [Period II 

much powder, rum and woolen cloth for a beaver skin as they could 
get at Montreal or Fort Frontenac. The colony of New York 
planned to fortify a position on Lake Ontario in order to compete 
with Fort Frontenac for the trade with the western Indians ; and 
after a long delay, in 1722, at the mouth of the Oswego river, a store- 
house and later a fort w^ere built where now is a populous city. 

Governor Burnet and the French. — This important step was 

taken by Governor William Bur- 
net, who two years before received 
the place of the gifted but dis- 
contented Hunter. The name of 
Burnet may be added to the short 
list of liberal-minded and public- 
spirited foreign governors of New 
York. He perceived that the de- 
sign of the French was to secure 
Xorth America ; he attempted to 
unite king and colonists in pre- 
occupying the banks of the Ohio 
and Mississippi with a line of 
English forts. But the king, three 
thousand miles away, did not 
realize the situation; while the 
colonists, intent on scraping and hoarding, were so fearful of tax- 
ation that they would not permit a saving outlay of colonial money. 

Burnet, himself, as French writers confess, left no stone unturned 
to defeat the projects of France. He called a council of colonial 
governors at Albany, the first of the many conferences held at that 
place with the Six Nations.* He attempted to pass beyond Oswego 

*The Iroquois a short time since had received the Tuscaroras, the tribe of Powhatan 
and Pocahontas, from Virgrina, and had piven them land on the south east end of Oneida 
lake. The confederation was henceforth known as the Six Nations. 




Chap. VI] COLONEL WILLIAM COSBY. 63 

and fortify the deserted French position at Niagara ; but he was dis- 
appointed and was compelled to see the French a third time, in 
1726, build Fort Niagara. 

The French Trade. — Still nothing more than sharp letters 
between the governors disturbed the peace of New York and Can- 
ada. 'The traders of Montreal had found that they could buy 
at Albany cheaper than they could import from France ; so a brisk 
trade was going on between the two colonies by means of Indian 
carriers over the Champlain route. It was profitable business for 
the merchants of New York, but it promised evil to the colony ; for 
in the path of the traders the French were creeping up the Sorel, 
up Lake Champlain ; soon they would be on Lake George and a 
gtep would take them to the upper Hudson valley. 

Governor Burnet saw the danger and induced the assembly to 
prohibit the trade. For this act he was disliked by the merchants 
of New York and London who used all means to secure his removal. 
He further lost popularity by continuing the court of chancery, a 
court of supreme authority, instituted by Hunter, which encroached 
upon the power of the assembly. The governor also unfortunately 
incurred the displeasure of Peter Schuyler and of Stephen De 
Lancey ;* and thus a combination of influences brought about the 
removal of the efficient but indiscreet Burnet to Massachusetts ; 
and following this the trade with Canada was soon renewed. 

Cosby. — When the next governor died after a term of a few 
months. Rip Van Dam, the oldest member of the council, took the 
office of acting governor until the arrival of Colonel William Cosby, 
in 1732, a year memorable for the birth of Washington. As Corn- 
bury stands in contrast with Bellomont, so Cosby is odious in com- 
parison with the high-minded Burnet. When allowed to have his 
own way, Cosby exercised his tyranny with offensive overbearance ; 

* Stephen DeLancey was the leading man amons a company of French Huguenots, who 
to escape persecution in France settled in New York city and at New Hochelle. 



64 A HALF CENTURY OF ENGLISH RULE. [Period II 

when thwarted by the assembly, he bowed servilely before them. 
He at once sued the popular leader. Rip Van Dam, and tried to 
force him to give up half of the salary of the year when he acted 
as governor. He deposed Lewis Morris from the office of chief jus- 
tice ; he quarreled with William Smith, the principal lawyer of the 
colony. He had cunningly induced the assembly to vote taxes for 
five years and so placed himself partly beyond the reach of public 
displeasure, except as it might be talked in the tavern or published 
in the newspaper. 

The First Printer. — The press was then a new force in secur- 
ing the popular rights of New York. Forty years before and two 
years after the death of Leisler, Governor Fletcher, feeling the need 
of printed laws and other legal papers, persuaded one William Brad- 
ford, a printer of Philadelphia, to bring to Xew York his rude 
printing press. He took this first machine of its kind into the 
province and for fifty years did the public printing.* In 1725 
he began the first newspaper, the Xew York Gazette, a weekly 
paper about the size of a sheet of foolscap. 

Zenger ; His Arrest. — Naturally the paper of the public printer 
supported the governor ; and quite naturally too an opposition 
paper was started ; it was conducted by Peter Zenger, a former 
workman of Bradford. His paper, the New York Weekly Journal, 
was filled with criticisms and jingling rhymes aimed at the hated 
governor. Cosby fumed at the hard hits given him and arrested 
Zenger for libel. The publisher then edited the paper in his cell 
and sent for William Smith and another lawyer to defend him. 
The governor thereupon caused these lawyers to be deprived of the 
rights of attorneys. Zenger's next move was to engage Andrew 
Hamilton, a lawyer of Philadelphia, one of the ablest advocates in 

*One day a boy of seventeen, a lunaway apprentice from Boston, came to his office. 
Bradford did not have work for another hand, and so directed the younff man to his son, a 
printer in Philadelphia. By this chance, Pennsylvjinia and not New York became the home 
of the statesman and scientist, Benjamin Franklin. 



Chap. VI] A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 65 

America. The case rapidly became famous. In the city a society 
of men, among whom were William Smith, William Livingston and 
John Morrin Scott, was formed under the name of *^Sons of Lib- 
erty ; " and in other colonies the inhabitants were intently watching 
the result. 

The Trial. — Hamilton in opening his client's case made it 
plainly the cause of the whole people, declaring to the jury that 
they were to decide the question of freedom of speech and of the 
press against the will of a dictator. The judge, the tool of Cosby, 
charged the jury to bring in a verdict of guilty. Their verdict was, 
— not guilty. Amid uncontrollable applause Hamilton was borne 
from the room, given a banquet and placed on the barge for Phila- 
delphia with firing of cannon. It was a great victory for Kew 
York and her sister colonies. Thereby the press became free and 
continued to be a most important aid in securing the rights of 
Americans until men laid down the pen to put an end to the con- 
test with the sword. 

Change of Governor. — The trial of Zenger was in 1735 ; Cosby 
died the next year, after providing that Rip Van Dam should not 
act as governor during the usual interval preceding the appoint- 
ment of a chief officer. By this arrangement, George Clarke, a 
favorite of the aristocracy, became acting governor, and, by repre- 
senting to the powers across the ocean that the place was ill-paid 
and beset with troubles, he kept charge of the government for seven 
years. 

A Declaration of Independence.~At the beginning of his 
administration the assembly met him with a firm front. When 
they received from him the customary address or message, they re- 
turned a reply as was usual. They used none of the fulsome praise 
often found in these responses, but put the case to Clarke in plain 
terms: '' You are not to expect that we either will raise sums unfit 



66 A HALF CENTURY OF ENGLISH RULE. [Period II 

to be raised, or put what we shall raise into the power of a governor 
to misapply. '* They determined that henceforth they would not raise 
a revenue *'for any longer time than one year; nor do we think/' 
said they, '^it convenient to do that until such laws are passed as 
we conceive necessary/^ To these words the politic Clarke bowed, 
bargained to support certain measures of the assembly and secured 
an ample revenue. 

Public Plunder. — The revenue seemed to be his main concern. 
He came from England to be secretary of the colony ; he returned 
worth $500,000, — a fabulous sum in those days. Nor does it ap- 
pear that some other governors were far behind him in getting rich. 
They took large fees for land grants and titles ; they appropriated 
broad tracts of land and sold it or distributed it among favorites ; 
they took pay from merchants and from other interested persons in 
return for favoring some regulation of trade. Many of these trans- 
actions, which to-day would be thought scandalous, were then 
looked upon as the rightful income of the governor's office. One 
great political job of that time was the bringing of five hundred 
highlanders from Scotland to people the land about Lake George as 
a protection against the French. The project failed ; but the 
Scotch mingled with English, Dutch and Germans, making for 
New York a broad-minded population. 

The Negro Plot. — During the administration of Clarke, the 
colony passed through affliction. The winter of 1741 was severely 
cold and was accompanied with suffering. The citizens of New 
York city expected each day to see a war ship of Spain, with 
which nation England was then at war. The city was now a place 
of ten thousand people, — a fifth of whom were negro slaves. As 
summer followed the cold winter, rumors of a slave riot filled the 
air. It was no new sensation ; thirty years before, the negroes were 
charged with combining for the burning of the city, and on very 
poor evidence nineteen of them were hanged. Since then the peo- 



Chap. VI] THE NEGRO PLOT. 67 

pie had lived in fear of a conspiracy of slaves, and according to law 
when they found three negroes together they might give them forty 
lashes on the bare back. 

In the fateful year of 1741 a few small fires occurred about the 
same time, probably set for the sake of plunder ; and m this the fear- 
ful citizens saw a bold " negro plot " to burn the city and murder 
the white people. Rewards for information were freely offered ; 
and the Dutch taverns were filled with gossiping, tale-inventing 
men, who manufactured a childish fear and foolish hatred of the 
negro. The people were seized with a panic and many fled from 
the city as from a pestilence. 

After much search for the guilty persons, an ignorant girl, Mary 
Burton, was arrested in a drunken den on the suspicion that she 
knew the secret of the plot. In her fright she invented wild stories 
which were eagerly believed. Others in turn acknowledged a plot, 
and soon this was found to be the easiest way of escape. Informers 
became plentiful ; sheriffs and hangmen were busy ; the people grew 
more frantic and less sensible ; but not one reasonable fact was 
found concerning the origin of the fires. 

Finally the fury spent itself after nearly two hundred people, 
mostly negroes, had been put in prison. Of the black men many 
were hanged, more were transported to the West Indias, while four- 
teen suffered the barbarism of a death by burning. Four of the 
white prisoners were also hanged, — among them one John Ury, a 
Catholic priest, whose religion seemed to deny him the consider- 
ation of his fellow citizens. The disgusting negro panic of New 
York city is a parallel to the witchcraft delusion of Salem. 

Admiral Clinton. — Soon after these events Lieutenant-Gover- 
nor Clarke closed his seven years' administration and gave way to 
Cosby's successor, Admiral George Clinton. With him the assem- 
bly began the old fight ; they were told to place a revenue and the 



*^ ^ HALF CENTURY OF ENGLISH RULE. [Period II 

militia unconditionally in the hands of the governor, since war 
with France was threatening. They flatly refused. They further 
declared that an assembly should hold office for seven years at the 
most,— a term then and now the limit of the English parliament. 
But soon these quarrels were overshadowed by the strife with 
France. The time had come to decide whether the French or the 
-English were to govern North America. 



CHAPTEK VII. 



The Final Struggle with France. — 1744-1760. 
Kin^ George's War. — From the treaty of Utrecht to the year 
1744, there were thirty years of nominal peace; then broke out the 
struggle known as King George^s War. It was the same story: raids 
by the Canadians over the Champlain route, great expeditions 
planned and equipped by the English and never carried through. 
This time the French entered Massachusetts, came within forty 
miles of Albany, burned the northernmost settlement, Saratoga,* 
murdered many and carried terror to the entire frontier. That the 
advance posts in New York were ill protected was due to the jealous 
fears of the assembly, rather than to any inactivity of Governor 
Clinton. The suspicion that he would misuse their men and money 
was their only excuse for failing to ward death from the hardy set- 
tlers and for breaking faith with the Indian allies. 

The French West of New York. — Peace came in 1T48 when 
no peace was possible. The French read the treaty to suit them- 
selves ; they built a fort south-west of the site of Dunkirk on Lake 
Erie, they strengthened Fort Niagara, they fortified a post at Og- 
densburg, they extended the long dreamed of line of works down 
the Ohio and the Mississippi ; soon they would creep over the 
Alleghanies and threaten the narrow coast strip of scattered Eng- 
lish settlements. The time was critical for the exposed State of 
New York ; the Mohawk valley was not safe ; Albany was threat- 
ened ; the harbor of New York would be the first great prize. 

* The settlement contained about thirty houses and was on the Hudson near the present 
Schuylerville. The Saratoga of this war and of the Revolution was about twelve inilea 
east of Saratoga Springs. 

(69) 



70 



THE FINAL STRUGGLE WITH FRANCE. [Period II 



The Albany Conyention. — To consider these matters and to 
confer with the Iroquois a congress of the colonies was called by 
the English government to meet in Albany in 1754. Hither came 
representatives from the four New England colonies, from Penn- 
sylvania, and from Maryland, to meet William Smith, Colonel 
Johnson and others from New York, together with Lieutenant- 
Governor DeLancey, who since the departure of Clinton was in 
charge of the colony. Here came the Iroquois to chide the colony 
for their neglect ; and among them was their great chief Hendrick,* 

Western New York and Pennsylvania in the whose Speech haS COme down to 
French and Indian Wak. t i /. , tx 

us as a model oi oratory. Here 

Benjamin Franklin proposed a 
plan for a union of the Ameri- 
can colonies. The proposal did 
not please the king ; it seemed 
at the time to awaken no re- 
sponse from the colonies. 

The French and Indian War : First Year, — 

The next year, 1755, the war opened in earnest. 
Troops began to gather at Albany. At the oppo- 
site end of the State was Fort Niagara with its gar- 
rison of thirty disheartened Frenchmen. Against 
them Shirley, the royal governor of Massachusetts, 
led two thousand men to capture the fort and to 
join Braddock marching from Virginia. Shirley 
heard of Braddock's disastrous failure to take 
Fort DuQuesne (du kane), reached Oswego, built 
ships, waited for fair weather, and leaving re-en- 
forcements at Oswego went disgracefully back to the Hudson. 

* Soi-en-{ra-rah-ta, or Kin^r Hendrick as he is kno^^^^ to history, held the sv.-ay cf a mon- 
arch over the Iroonois. He was a Mohawk, and at this time an old man; in his earlier days 
Jie went to England ^^ith Peter Schuyler and was there received by Queen Anne as one of 
royal blood. He was killed the next year after his speech at Albany, in the battle near 
Lake George. 




Chap. VII] 



FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 



71 




~\^r 




Here fifty miles above Albany, where the river 
turns westward to catch the torrents of the Adi- 
rondacks. Fort Edward was built as the advance 
guard of the English settlements. Thence it is 
but a short distance over a gentle ri.se to water 
flowing into the St. Lawrence. In the Cham- 
plain valley the advance post of the French had 
been for twenty years at Crown Point. With this 
point in view "William Johnson, with over three 
thousand men, started north from Fort Edward, 
met the enemy at the head of the water, to which 
he gave the name of Lake George, and defeated 
them.* Without attempting to go further he 
loitered away the summer erecting Fort William 
Henry, the first building on Lake George. At 
the same time the French were pushing south- 
ward and building Fort Ticonderoga. 

Second Year. — The much vaunted and only 
success of the first year was no real gain ; and 
the campaign during the next year was directed 
to keep what was already held. Oswego was 
threatened. A force to relieve the garrison was 
criminally delayed along the way by the com- 
mander, Webb, a royal officer. Meanwhile a 
new leader, Montcalm, had brought courage to 
the French. One day he reviewed his troops at 
Fort Frontenac, the same evening he landed 
before Oswego, and in ten days he had the forts, 
many vessels and rich stores. Then to show 



* A skirmishing party under Colonel 'Williams of Massachusetts 
was defeated and Kin? Hendrick and Colonel Williams were killed. 
The latter made a will at Albany leaving: money to found a schooL 



Northern New York in 

French AND Indian War That school is Williams College, Massachusetts 



72 THE FINAL STRUGGLE WITH FRANCE. [Period II 

the Indians that the French did not wish their land, he utterly 
destroyed the well-placed fortifications. 

A Time of Gloom. — It was a politic move ; the Iroquois were 
already looking with suspicion upon the English people who were 
fast occupying their land. The Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas 
and Cayugas had already been to Montreal to promise to be neu- 
tral. It was a time of gloom in the colony of Xew York. Three 
thousand English regulars were in the province, mostly at Albany 
and New York city. There at any moment a family might be 
compelled to feed and shelter English soldiers. The colonists 
knew that such acts were illegal ; but in their fear of the French 
they submitted. New York levied taxes, raised money and fitted 
out companies of militia capable of doing efficient service. But 
they were despised by the English, and their highest officers were 
made to obey the lowest officer of the regular army. 

Third Year. — Johnson's fort on Lake George now became 
a death-trap. The garrison was surrounded by French and Indians 
under Montcalm. Forced to surrender, the men gave up their 
arms and were allowed to go to Fort Edward on parole. As the 
defenceless men started, they were attacked by the Indians, some 
were stripped of their clothes, some scalped, and those wlio escaped 
ran panting into Fort Edward. Here, resting contentedly, was the 
imbecile Webb with four thousand unused troops. 

Fourth Year. — During the following winter the length of the 
Mohawk valley was open to the French and Indians. Palatine Vil- 
lage was burned, forty people were murdered and a hundred and fifty 
carried to a fearful captivity ; while the English officers enjoyed 
their snug winter quarters. During the summer, (1758), 17,000 
men, more than half colonists, the largest body of men that had 
ever gathered in New York State, assembled at the site of the 
destroyed Fort William Henry, under the English general, Aber- 
crombie. The army sailed gaily down the lake to the short, swift 



Chap. VII] THE RESULT. 73 

stream which carries the water to Lake Champlain. There, while 
Abercrombie skulked in a saw-mill, his misdirected men fell before 
the walls of Ticonderoga. 

The Chain Broken. — Final defeat now seemed the fate of the 
colonies and their king. At that moment a captain of New Eng- 
land and a force all American got reluctant permission to do their 
best. They hastened up the Mohawk, down the Oswego, across 
Ontario and took Fort Frontenac without a blow. The chain of 
French forts was broken. The storehouse of the west was destroyed. 
There were already other signs of success. Pitt, the friend of 
America, had become prime minister of England ; he had sent out 
General Wolfe, who had captured Louisburg, the great naval fortress 
of the French. There were other successes outside of New York ; 
soon after the fall of Fort Frontenac, Fort Du Quesne, in Penn- 
sylvania, was abandoned by the French. 

The Fifth Year. — The end was near. The French, few and 
starving, successful by unity and dash, suddenly collapsed. In 
1759, Sir William Johnson captured Niagara and the way to the 
west was open. The French deserted Ticonderoga and Crown 
Point to concentrate about Quebec ; and when on the Plains of 
Abraham the brave Wolfe conquered the brave Montcalm, and both, 
died. New York and her sister colonies had needed rest. 

The Result. — There was no question now as to the northern 
boundary of New York. But the war which made the decision 
broke up many families and left the colony with a debt of one and 
a half million dollars. On the other hand the farmers of New York 
had found friends and brothers in other colonies ; they learned the 
unbrotherly feeling of the English ; and in their marches they had 
viewed fertile fields in unknown regions of the State. The fear of 
the French and their savage allies could no longer keep them from 
the lands north and west of Albany. The very forts became centers 



74 



THE FINAL STKUGGLE WITH FRANCE. [Period II 



around which future cities and villages were to gather. About Fort 
Schuyler Utica was to grow ; Fort Stanwix was the nucleus of 
Rome, Fort Presentation nourished the germs of Ogdensburg. The 
war with its terrors had yet many helpful lessons for the English 
•colonies in America. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



CONDITIOK OF THE COLOKY TOWARD THE ClOSE OF E^-GLISH 

Rule. 

The New York of 1760 and 1770 was no longer a collection of 
settlements ; it was fast taking on the form of a State. The shape 
of its peopled territory was that of a letter Z ; the Mohawk valley 
and Long Island are the upper and lower lines of the letter ; the 
Hudson valley is the connecting bar. 

The Island Counties. — Long Island was divided into counties 
as now, with Suffolk at the eastern end. The inhabitants here were 
largely from ISTew England ; they preserved their Puritan ideas and 
manners and much preferred to be a part of Connecticut.* Hunt- 
ingdon, Brookhaven, Southampton and Southold were the princi- 
pal towns. 

Passing into Queens county the Dutch element became noticeable. 
Further on. Kings county also had its present limits, but its cities 
were hardly begun. Lower New York was not so crowded nor 
ferry passage so safe and rapid as to give an impetus to the growth 
of Brooklyn, so that it was still a village smaller than neighboring 
towns which are to-day enclosed within its spreading boundaries. 
The Dutch element prevailed in Kings county and grew rich in 
market gardening. Staten Island composed the Richmond county 
of those days also ; but there were few settlers, except here and 
there a Dutch or French farmer and '^one poor, mean village,'* 
Richmond. 

* New Engrland customs prevail on tlie east end of Long Island to-day ; and indeed it 
would be more convenient for the peoplo to sail up the Connecticut than up the Hudson to 
their capital city. Read, " A New England Colony in New York. ''''— Harper's Magazine, Vol. 71. 

(75) 



76 coiTDiTiOiq^ OF THE COLONY. [Period II 

New York County. — Turning northward, the island of Manhat- 
tan, with Bedloe's, Governors, BlackwelFs and other islands of the 
bay and East river comprised the city of New York. The city itself 
was then about a mile long and a half-mile wide; and its crooked 
streets extended to the present city hall. Beyond, the '' Broad way " 
passed straggling houses and then stretched away as a country road 
among the farms which have since been given up to the great retail 
trade of the continent. The business centre of those days was 
Hanover Square ; while the place for a fashionable residence was 
lower Broadway or Wall street. 

'^ In the city, ^' says McMaster, ^^ scarce a street was paved, and 
these few were so illy done that Franklin observed that a New 
Yorker could be told by his walk as he shuffled over the smooth 
pavements of Philadelphia.^^ The streets were crooked ; Pearl 
street had been extended along the line of the cow-path to the com- 
mon pasture. Where City Hall park is, was a much larger common 
known as the ''Fields,^' and further north, now without a trace, 
was a large fresh water pond, where the city fisherman often tried 
his luck. 

Population and Importance. — The number of people then in 
the city was from twenty thousand to twenty-five thousand, being 
a seventh or an eighth of the population of the entire province; 
whereas in later years the population of the city has been to that of 
the State as one to four or five. Then, New York county had but 
half the number of people of Albany county and no more than 
Westchester county. Yet the city, compared with the rest of the 
State, was more important than now ; it was the capital during 
colonial times, the centre of all trade, — except the Indian traffic of 
Albany, — and it was the social metropolis. The brilliant events of 
society were not excelled by those of London, testifies a royal gov- 
ernor ; while a local writer says that the people aped all the absurd 
customs of the English capital about the time they had died out in 



i 



Chap. VIIIJ RELIGION. 77 

that city. Dutch manners, however, largely prevailed and a knowl- 
edge of that language as well as of the English was necessary for 
doing business. 

Religion. — The Dutch ministers still preached in their language 

to diminishing congre- 
gations, who were be- 
ginning to prefer the 
English preachers. Yet 
the descendants of the 
old settlers clung to the 
mother tongue, and in 
one of the Dutch Re- 
formed churches the 
services were in Dutch 
until the year 1803. 
This denomination, 
since Engli.sh occupa- 
tion, had given way to 
the Episcopalian as the 
favored church of the 
royal officers; and the 
Presbyterians had 
grown strong from Kew 

Dutch Chuuch Built in 1693. EuglaU d r C r U i t S. 

These denominations had two or three churches each. The Bap- 
tists and !Methodists, who had been worshiping in upper rooms in 
William street, built their first churches soon after the French war. 
A Quaker and a Lutheran meeting house and a Jew's synagogue 
went to make up the eighteen places of worship in the city which 
now contains nearly five hundred church buildings. 

There was no Catholic church ; in fact at one time in English 
rule it was a crime of death for a Catholic priest to be found in the 




78 



COXDITIOX OF THE COLONY. 



[Period U 



province. For a while Quakers and Jews were not allowed to vote; 
McKemie, a minister, was unsuccessfully prosecuted for using other 
services than those of the prayer-book. The early English governors 
had as a rule been more intolerant in religious matters than the 
Dutch rulers ; but the spirit of religious freedom was growing, and 
was soon to be fully recognized in the State constitution. 

Public Buildings and Schools, — Beside the churches, New 
York had fi'W })ublic buildings. There was an alms-house, a city 
hall two stories high, an exchange, and a hospital, just begun and 
completed in time to be used as barracks for the English soldiers. 
These were the beginning of the vast array of public and charitable 
buildings which now abound in the great city. One other notable 




King's College. 



building there was, however, — King's College, now Columbia Col- 
lege. This institution was organized in 1754, at which time there 
were said to be but about fifteen college graduates among the hun- 
dred thousand i)cople of the province. Princeton and Yale on each 



Chap. VIII] EDUCATION. 79 

side luid long prompted the cohmy to found a scliool for higher 
education. As the complaint was made that tlie New York hoys 
leturning from Yale were filled with advanced notions on political 
subjects, the friends of the king took care tliat King's College 
should teach a sentiment of submission to England. So the college 
officers were from the aristocracy; but among tlicir first jiupils 
were such boys as Gouverneur Morris and Alexander Hamilton. 

In educating the mass of the people the colony under English 
rub made no progress compared with its material growth. In 
1702, the assembly awoke to the need of a grammar scliool and sent 
to England for a ''native born English teacher, of good learning, 
pious life and conversation and good temper." But tlie governors 
ga^e the matter of education little thought. Another step was 
taken in 1732, when a free school was established in which Latin, 
Greek and mathematics were taught. 

The Southern Hudson Counties.— Leaving IS ew York by tlie 
Bowery Lane, or the Boston road, the traveler passed through the 
Dutch village of Harlem and then crossed the Spuyten Duyvil 
(spi't'n di'vil) creek to Morrisania, the manor of the Morris family, 
— since 1873 a part of New York city, but then in Westchester 
county. Westchester was widely settled in those days, mostly by 
the descendants of the advance guard of Connecticut Yankees. 

Across the Hudson lay Orange county, then including Iiockland 
and reaching back to the State line. Even in those days it was 
noted for producing ''the best butter made in the colony.'' In the 
southern part of the county the Dutch abounded and Tappan was 
the principal village. In this vicinity there was great uncertainty 
where the New Jersey line would finally run. 

The Middle Counties of the Hudson.— Northward Ulster 
county was an immense tract joining Albany county on the north 
and running back to the Delaware river and the Indian country. 



80 CONDITION OF THE COLONY. [Period II 

Along the Hudson were typical New York settlements of Dutch, 
Irisli, French, English and Scotch. The principal village was 
Kingston with its hundred and fifty stone houses. The county 
furnished the colony with flour, millstones and beer. On the other 
s'ldii of the Iludson, Dutchess county began at Westchester, included 
tlie present Putnam county and reached to the modern Columbia 
line, then the southern limit of the Livingston manor. Pough- 
keepsie and Fishkill* were its two villages, though they were sa:d 
to '^scarce deserve the name." 

Albany County. — The rest of the State of New York, settled tp 
to IT TO, was known as Albany county. The city of Albany showed 
by the 8lKi])e of the three hundred and fifty brick houses that tie 
people clung tenaciously to the old Dutch customs. To the weab, 
Schenectady was another thoroughly Dutch town, with a wonder 
in the shape of a town clock. The fertile land here on the river 
sold for two hundred dollars an acre, and without manure produced 
full crops of wheat and peas. Further west settlements continued 
to the centre of what is now Herkimer county. But the traders 
pressed on up the Mohawk, at the modern Rome carrying their 
goods over an easy portage to the lake and stream which conveyed 
their wares to Oswego ; for at this time there was no road connect- 
ing Schenectady with Port Oswego. Northward from Albany the 
withdrawal of the French was followed by another stream of settlers ; 
Iloosac, Schaghticoke (skat-i-kook), and Saratoga were the villages 
in ITOO. 

Distance and Traveling. — From this end to the other ex- 
treme of the colony was then as far, counting the time taken for 
a h'tter or a traveler, as it is now across the continent. If one did 
not caro to trust the uncertain winds and unfavorable tides, he 
could count on getting from New York to Boston by land in a 

• Kill iiu'uns in the Dutch. <'harmol or rivfr: hence Kill van KuU or the Kills between 
Staten Island and Bergen \. < u • -lU,, Schuylkill and Catskill. 



Chap. VIII] CUSTOMS and dress. 81 

week. Letters for a long time were carried no farther soutli than 
Philadelphia; but later the mail service was extended through 
forest paths to Charleston. Then a weekly mail to Philadeli)liia 
was started ; and finally a wonder appeared in the shape of a stage 
running between the cities in two or three days, advertising itself 
as a '' flying machine," with all the comforts of a canvjis cover but 
with no suggestion of springs. In wet weather the cramped and 
jolted passenger could find exercise by helping to lift the wheels 
from the mud holes. 

Customs and Dress. — More often the citizen of New York 
traveled on horse back. On horse back he went to cluirch, with 
his wife perhaps riding behind him. In church they ti.t without 
any heat in winter except that of a foot warmer. Indeed, what a 
stove is, few in those days knew. Many other household articles 
now found in the poorest home were then known only to the rich. 
The workingman had no carpets, no pictures, no books and papers, 
except the bible and an almanac, which in those days was sold and 
not given away, and which might serve his children for a reading 
book ; he had no glass or earthenware, simply pewter plates. He 
received for a day's work less money than fifty cents now amounts to; 
and if with these wages he could not pay for his coarse food and leath- 
ern breeches, he stood in fear of being thrown into j)rison for debt. 

The clothes of the common people were largely homespun, cotton 
cloth being an expensive luxury. The elaborate style of dress 
shown by the portraits of the day was worn by the few rich. The 
huge wigs hanging down upon the shoulders were worn by men 
and sometimes even by boys ; but they went out of fashion about 
the close of the French war. The men rivaled the women in bright 
colors. The following description is given of a runaway slave, 
dressed probably in the cast off clothes of his master :—'' Wore a 
light wig, a gray kersey jacket lined with blue, alii^dit pair of 
drugget breeches with glass buttons, black roll-up stockings, 
square-toed shoes, a white vest with yellow buttons, and red linings." 



82 CONDITION OF THE COLONY. [Period II 

The Great Families. — The many negro slaves and the lordly 
families who kept them made the social life of New York before 
the Kevolution far different from that under the republic. The 
lords of the manors had vast tracts of land, which, like the Dutch 
patroons, they rented to their farmers and over which they had 
almost kingly power. Among them were the Livingstons with 
their 100,000 acres in the present Columbia county, the De Lanceys 
and the ^lorrises. In the winter the feudal lords betook them- 
selves to New York city, where they mingled with the families of 
the rich merchants and of royal officers. New York city was " a 
nest of families"; many of their names, as Beekman, Van Cort- 
land t, and Lispenard, are given to streets of the city. They were 
all intermarried, but were not prevented thereby from having fre- 
quent family quarrels. 

Such aristocratic families were found in no other American 
colony, except in Virginia ; and in Virginia the great planters w^ere 
Englishmen, while the lords of New York were of various nations ; 
the Schuylers and Van Rensselaers were Dutch, the De Lanceys 
were French, the Livingstons were AVelsh. As a result these 
families were often found siding with the people against the royal 
governors of England. 

The Goyernors. — Toward the middle of the eighteenth century 
the fueling toward the governors became such that the people had 
no regard for one who tried to do as nearly right tis he could. The 
position was little sought for ; the changes were frequent. '^ While 
Virginia had twenty governors in the century before the Eevolu- 
tion, Massachusetts twenty-one, and Pennsylvania twenty-five, the 
executive authority in New York underwent thirty-three changes." 
Many of these were lieutenant-governors. From the administra- 
tion of Admiral Clinton to Tryon, the last English governor, the 
colony was most of the time in charge of Lieutenant-Governors 
James Do Lancey and Cadwallader Colden. Eight governors died 
in otlice ; one, of a despondent mind, finding after a few days resi- 



Chap. VIII] SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON. 83 

dence in the colony how the assembly would oppose him, luiugctl 
himself to his garden wall. 

The Ruler of Interior New York.— While the governors wore 
losing ground, there was in the Mohawk valley a feudal lord who 
was coming to be, in his influence over men, the most jmwerful iium 
of New York. Sir William Johnson, who obtained fame and his 
title of Sir from his victories in the French and Indian war, came 
to New York when a young man, to look after his uncle's lands 
along the Mohawk. He gained the love of the Iroquois, learned 
their ways, was made a chief, bought their land by the s(juare 
mile, built a stone house, called his settlement Johnstown and 
became the monarch of the Mohawk. In this favored valley the 
making of the Empire State went rapidly on. For it was the 
farmers of the State, the great middle class, who gave us the New 
York of to-day. It was indeed the very countrymen of this 
Mohawk valley, who in the critical moment of the Kevolutioa 
turned back the tide of British invasion. 



Sandy Hook Liohthousb. (First built In 1763.) 



CHAPTER IX. 



lon<r been a 



dead 



The Begixk-ijs'g of a Revolution. — 1760-1775. 

As the first century of English rule in Xew York drew to a close, 
the people were beginning to think of themselves as Americans. 
Tlie English, too, began to treat the colony as part of one great 
province. Heretofore they had adopted but one important meas- 
ure bearing upon all their American possessions, — that is the navi- 
gation laws. But these acts, wliich were intended to compel the 
colonists to brinff and send all their goods in English ships, had 
letter ; at the end of the French war, however, 
they were revived and enforced, greatly to the 
hurt of New York's growing commerce. Eng- 
land was determined to have a fixed revenue 
from the colonies, partly to pay the war debt, 
but especially in order to pay the salaries of 
the judges and the governors and thus render 
these officers independent of the assembly. 

A Stamp Act. — Parliament, no longer 
under the influence of Pitt, went further : 
They decided to levy an internal tax upon the 
colonies and selected, as the easiest tax to col- 
lect, a stamp duty. Accordingly early in 1705, 
they passed an act requiring the colonies to 
buy stamps, varying in value from three cents 
to thirty dollars, and put them on newspapers, 
almanacs and pamphlet?, on marriage licenses, 
mortgages and otlicr legal papers. 
(S4) 





Stamps. 



Chap. IX] THE STAMP ACT. 8.> 

Tho people of Xew York had idruiuly sent in their i)rotest. 
** The spirit of resistance/' says Bancroft, ** was nowliere so strong 
as in New York/' They declared upon the authority of the con- 
stitution that to vote away by taxation the property of one who has 
no voice in the vote is to deny him the very right of i)ro])erty. Not 
only did they assert that the tax was illegal, they declared that 
they would not pay the duty. But the English had little doulit of 
easily compelling payment ; and in order to meet any possible re- 
sistance, they had left, on pretense of further trouble with France, 
a standing army in the colonies with headquarters at New York 
city. Moreover at the time of the passing of the stamp act, they 
had enacted a quartering act requiring the colonics to furnish 
the soldiers with quarters, candles, wood, soap and drink. 

Tlie News of the double insult came up New York bay with tho 
first days of summer. Men talked excitedly in streets and in pub- 
lic places ; they gathered in secret societies and planned desper- 
ate deeds, they paraded the principal streets with a copy of the 
stamp act fastened to a death's head with tlie words, *' The Folly 
of England and the Ruin of America." Tho press of the city, 
free since the days of Zenger, had much to do in moulding senti- 
ment. '^From denying the right of parliament to tax the colo- 
nies," the papers fell to doubting ''its legislative authority 
altogether." The Constitutional Couraut appeared with the 
motto, ^' Join or Die." These w^atch-words were echoed from Mas- 
sachusetts to Georgia. 

Organization. — The Sons of Liberty, the leading patriotic soci- 
ety of New York, suggested committees of correspondence with 
similar committees in other colonies. Tho separateuess of tiie 
thirteen colonies was the great hinderance to union. New York 
city and Boston were then as far from each other as those cities 
are now from San Francisco. The colonies at once fell in with this 
idea of the Sons of Liberty and were soon united by a system of 
correspondence. 



86 TFTE BEGINNING OF A REVOLUTION. [Period II 

One of the first results was the calling of a colonial congress to 
meet in New York city. The hated stamp act was to go into effect 
on the first of November ; the congress met in October, and the 
representatives of New York and of eight other colonies adopted a 
firm declaration of rights, a candid statement to parliament of the 
situation, and a respectful petition to George III., the new king of 
England. The thirteen colonies were now of one mind. 

November 1, 1765. — When the morning of the first of Novem- 
ber came, the streets of New York city had the look of Sunday. 
Shops wore shut ; bells were tolling ; flags were at half-mast ; bills 
wore ])«^sto(l, paving; 



fro fc4r{cu 

Jim ^fmi^ (f^^^^f^, 



9 



IVople early came i)oiirijig in from the surrounding country; the 
increasing throng frightened the stamp distributor so that lie hast- 



Chap. IX] 



REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT. 



87 



ily resigned; then the crowd gutliering courage dctermiiicd fo 
seize the stamps. But here they were baffled ; for acting (Jovcrnor 
Golden* had landed the stamps under guns and put them in the fort. 

As evening came on, a solid 
column of citizens man IumI 
quietly from the Fields down 
Broadway carrying efligies of 
Golden and of the devil, wliidi 
they burned on the Bowling 
Green. Then they broke open 
the governor's stables, seized 
his carriage of state and burned 
that. Thereupon getting 
bolder, the people marched up 
before tlie loaded cannon of 
the fort and vainly demanded 
the stamps. At this a few 
Cadwallader CoLDEN. vlolcnt oucs who could not 

keep within bounds broke open and pillaged the house of a certain 
Major James, an English officer who had said that he would '' cram 
the stamps down the throats of the people with the end of his 
sword. " 

Repeal of the Stamp Act. — When the next morning camo, the 
governor thought it best to proclaim that he would not allow the 
stamps to be sold and then turned them over to the mayor of the 
city, a man in whom the people had confidence. By the time that 
a second stamp distributor had resigned in fear, and ten packages 
of the stamps had been found and burned, the excitement cooled 

* During the frequent changes and absences of governors, Cadwallader Colden was fire 
times called to take char-e of the government. IIo was now over seventy years of ncr, 
a Scotchman, and had lived in the colony for over half a century. He is to Iw remembi^rrd 
as the most distinffuished of the early writers of the colony, his principal work bi-in>f a his- 
tory of the Iroquois. In political matters he favored the aristocracy. 




88 THE BEGINNING OF A REVOLUTION. [Period II 

down into a quiet determination. If newspapers were to be sent out, 
a marriage to be performed, or a sliip needed clearance papers, the 
citizens sometimes delayed proceedings for a while, but finally 
ignored the duty altogether. When parliament heard of these 
things and learned at the same time of similar events in twelve 
otlier colonies, they knew that the tax was a failure, and in the 
following March they repealed the famous act. 

The Liberty Pole. — The news of the repeal, coming back by the 
slow five to ten weeks' voyages of those days, turned the people to 
tlie extreme of joy. On the king's birthday in June the men of 
the city gathered in the Fields, erected a liberty pole, and inscribed 
on it — 

''The King, Pitt and Liberty." 
To the king they were thoroughly loyal; Pitt as the eloquent 
opposer of the taxation of America by England was their idol ; but 
liberty had as yet no suggestion of independence. 

A reaction soon set in. While the stamp act had been indeed 
repealed, the right to tax the colonies had been expressly declared. 
The quartering act remained and was offensively suggested by 
insolent bands of soldiers strolling about the streets of the city. 
On an August morning early risers discovered that some of these 
troops had cut down the liberty pole in the Fields. Crowds soon 
gathered, and in a fight between some citizens and soldiers Isaac 
Sears was wounded. But the pole was put up, and when a few 
weeks later it was found again on the ground, it was promptly 
restored. Finally after one more successful raid by the soldiers the 
Sons of Liberty ])ut up an iron-banded pole which stood for years 
as an expression of their sentiments. 

Non-Importation. — While a pole or no pole was the question 
in tlie colony, parliament was preparing to place duties on the tea, 
glass, paper and paints brought to America. Thereupon non- 
importation societies were formed to discourage the use of all 



Chap. IX] susPENSiox of the assembly. so 

imported articles. Tlie idea originated in New York ciiy, alrcudv 
the chief commercial city of America, perhap.s excepting Boston : 
and soon many letters were going from colony to colony securing 
unity of action. 

The colonists, especially the Dutch of New York, were noted tea 
drinkers ; but they even denied themselves this seeming necessity. 
The people encouraged the wearing of homespun ; they looked witli 
suspicion upon one dressed in fine clothing, but considered a man 
in a seedy suit with much favor. By such means the importations 
from England largely ceased, and the London merchants clamored 
to parliament for help. 

Suspension of the Assembly. — But parliament was growing 

angry under the refusal of the New Y^ork assembly to provide sup- 
plies for the troops in the city. Finally the English law-makers 
voted to suspend the power of the assembly to pass any law until it 
voted a supply bill. But the assembly declared the action of })ar- 
liament unconstitutional and went on with its business. Then it 
was dissolved by the governor ; but a new assembly elected in 1T08, 
in which were George Clinton and Philip Schuyler, was no more 
inclined to yield. It was about this time that the names whigs and 
tories began to be used for the two parties in the colonies. 

Indian Lands. — Meanwhile there were serious ditlicultics in the 
interior. The Iroquois were restless at the sight of the long trains 
of immigrants, who, no longer fearful of the French, were moving 
rapidly up the Mohawk. The boundaries of tlie lands bought of 
the Indians were vague ; the titles were generally obtained after 
filling the owners with rum; the settlers claimed much that the 
Indians declared had never been purchased. The Iroquois were with 
difficulty restrained by Sir William Johnson from joining in the 
war with Pontiac, which wrought havoc in the colonies to the south 
of New York; but finally they were quieted with new and more 
accurate surveys, and were paid for the contested land. 



90 THE BEGINNING OF A REVOLUTION. [Period II 

Boundary Disputes. — Not even at that time had the dividing 
lines between the colonies been fully determined. When Nichols 
agi-eed with Connecticut that the boundary should run twenty 
miles from the Hudson, by some Yankee trick, it is claimed, the 
line was run out to a point on the sound but ten miles from the 
river. The boundary, after a hundred years of contention, was 
put back to the twenty mile limit, except that the little strip, which 
to-day indents Westchester county along the sound, remained to 
Connecticut. 

The Contest with New Hampshire. — Following the lead of 
Connecticut, Massachusetts claimed land west of the Connecticut 
river, and by virtue of actual settlement secured a boundary as far 
west as Connecticut's line. Then New Hampshire claimed terri- 
tory as far west as Massachusetts held, and, about the time of the 
French war, settlers with grants from New Hampshire began to 
occupy land up to Lake Champlain. After a time families from 
the Hudson valley came into the present State of Vermont, armed 
with deeds from New York. Settler strove with settler, and the 
two governors sent vigorous protests back and forth ; until finally, 
coming to no term?, the two colonies sent the question across the 
ocean for settlement. 

The English government was inclined to favor the claims of New 
York, perhaps because the grant to the Duke of York gave a clear 
title up to the Connecticut river, but more likely because the Eng- 
lish preferred to see the disputed territory under the royal governor 
of New York rather than under the chartered privileges of New 
EngUmd. At any rate the king decided that the New Hampshire 
grants, now known as the State of Vermont, were the property of 
New York. 

A Tory Assembly. — For a while after this favorable considera- 
tion of the colony of New York, the contest with England was less 
bitter. The assembly of 17G8 was soon dissolved ; reaction set in. 



Chap. IX] BATTLK OP GOLDEN HILL. 91 

and the next year, when a new assembly was chosen, the strife was 
one mainly of families and religions. The Livingstons and Presby- 
terians were arrayed against the De Lanceys and Episcopalians. 
The latter party was successful and soon showed its sympathy 
for England by voting supplies for the standing army. Tliis action 
called a storm of indignation from the people and led to a mass 
meeting in the Fields. The citizens, presided over by John Lamb, 
denounced the assembly for ''betraying their country." 

It was a new experience for the assembly to find themselves 
opposing the will of the people, and they showed as little discretion 
as governors and councils had in like situations. They summoned 
Lamb before them, but could make nothing of his bold avowal. 
They then took satisfaction in putting Alexander McDougal in 
prison for libel. On his way to jail he said, " I rejoice that I am 
the first to suffer for liberty since the commencement of our 
glorious struggle.'"' But he suffered little ; he was daily visited by 
crowds bringing flowers and presents, and soon was released. 

Battle of Golden Hill. — Shortly after this, the soldiers added 
their part to the ill-feeling by throwing down the iron-banded pole 
of some three years' standing. This time they sawed it up and piled 
the lengths in front of Montague's tavern, a resort of the Sons of 
Liberty. The usual mass meetings followed ; knots of citizens and 
bands of soldiers gathered in the streets, and knock-down fights 
were common. At last the tumult culminated on a January day 
of 17T0, on Golden Hill, now John street, where a body of soldiers 
and another of citizens happened to meet. A battle of fists, canes 
and cart-stakes on one side, and of bayonets on the other ended in 
no immediate deaths, but caused blood to fiow freely. This fight 
did much to take away regard for the mother country ; it hai)pcncd 
two months before the Boston Massacre and has been called the 
first bloodshed between American patriots and the British soldiery. 



92 THE BEGINNING OF A REVOLUTION. [Period II 

Importation Resumed. — These exciting events did not please 
the farmers and merchants, who thrived better in quiet times. To 
them it was good news that parliament had taken off all duties on 
imports to America, with the exception of tea. Accordingly the 
merchants of New York city met and agreed to renew the trade in 
all other goods. New York had proposed tlie non-importation agree- 
ment, and alone, says the historian of America, *^had been true to 
its agreement." In so doing the colony had lost five-sixths of its 
trade, wliile the New England colonies and Pennsylvania had lost but 
a half of their traffic, and other colonies had even increased their 
im})ortations. vStill the people of these colonies were angry at the 
action of New York. *' Send us your old liberty pole, as you can 
have no farther use for it,"' said the men of Philadelphia. The Sons 
of Liberty joined in the same strain ; but when men went around 
from house to house to take the vote of the citizens of New York 
city, they found that 1180 to 300 favored the action of the mer- 
chants. 

Royal Governors. — This was in 1770. In that year Lord Dun- 
more, another of the oft-changing magistrates of the colony, arrived. 
His short administration is noticeable for the fact that, according 
to instruction, he would accept no salary from the province, but 
received his pay from the quit-rents and colonial duties which went 
into the English treasury. "When William Tryon, destined to be the 
last English governor of New York, succeeded Dunmore, the fol- 
lowing year, he too took no salary from the assembly. Still Tryon 
did not rule offensively but rather was successful in quietly carry- 
ing out the requirements of the despotic parliament. 

The Tea Tax. — The quiet times which followed were interrupted 
in 1773 at the news that the tax on tea was reduced to six cents a 
pound. As tea could thus be bought cheaper in the colonies than 
in England, parliament thought that an ingenious plan had been 
found to induce the Americans to buy the tea and pay the tax. 



Chap. IX] PARTIES IN" NEW YORK. 93 

But the colonists saw the trick. At New York city they organized 
a society of " Mohawks/' to prevent the landing of the tea-ship then 
coming to tliat port ; and while a like party at Boston were throw- 
ing a ship-load into the harbor, the Mohawks of New York waited 
in vain for their storm-driven vessel. When the sliip finally 
anchored in the bay, it was not allowed to land ; but another boat 
succeeded in getting eighteen chests to the dock, wliich were found 
and in broad day dumped into the harbor. 

Thus in all the colonies the final attempt of England to enforce 
taxation failed ; then parliament, changing its tactics, determined 
to reduce one colony thoroughly by force, and afterward to proceed 
to the rest. Accordingly it singled out Massachusetts, and closed 
the port of Boston. The other colonies were awake in a minute. 
Again in New York city the Fields held another crowd of excited 
men led by Lamb, McDougal, and Sears. This was known as the 
'^ Great Meeting." One of the eloquent speakers was a slight, 
girlish-looking boy, seventeen years old, a student of King's college. 
The listeners said to one another, ^' Who is he ?" and the word was 
passed around, "Alexander Hamilton." 

Parties in New York. — New York sent words of sympathy to 
Massachusetts, but was much divided about what to do. There 
were three parties in the province. The tories who wished fair 
terms with England, but were intent on obedience at any price ; 
such were Golden, the DeLanceys, many of the church of England 
and those holding office under the crown. 

At the other extreme was the party headed by the Sons of Lib- 
erty ; such were Isaac Sears, Alexander McDougal, John Morrin 
Scott, the workingmen and not a few of the rich. These men were 
bound to resist to the last ; they even talked of independence ; tliey 
collected arms, drilled, and were to New York what the minute 
men were to Massachusetts. 



94 THE BEGINNING OF A REVOLUTION. [Period II 

Between these two factions was a third party, the leading men of 
whom were merchants, lawyers and farmers ; they were determined 
not to yield the main point, yet hoped and sought for reconciliation 
with England ; such were Jolm Jay and the Livingstons. This 
party was tlie strongest, as was shown by tlie meetings held in 1774 
to appoint delegates to the congress at Philadelphia. 

Indecision. — When this congress, sometimes called the first 
Continental Congress, took a firm stand in opposition to England, 
tlie assembly, which had long misrepresented the people of Xew 
York, refused by a vote of eleven to twelve to endorse the proceed- 
ings at Philadelphia. To add to the uncertainty of the time, the 
Sons of Liberty, joined by Massachusetts, bitterly attacked the 
moderate party for lack of zeal. Thereupon the king, getting his 
ideas through the royal ofiicers and hearing of the action of the 
assembly, came to expect tliat Kew York would be loyal during 
the coming struggle. He had forgotten the New York of the 
stamp act time. There were indeed many tories in the colony, 
since there were so many royal officers. But at the same time there 
were many Dutch, Irish and French, with no ties to bind them to 
England. The mercliants, too, were thought more desirous of 
money getting than of risking their property in opposition to 
England. But while they hoped strongly for j^eace, they had an 
unshaken determination to maintain their rights to tlie last. More- 
over, Sir William Johnson was relied upon to carry the interior for 
the king ; but he was hesitating, and while he hesitated, he died. 
Of the final action of the mass of the people there was no doubt ; 
occasion only was needed. 

Decision. — The occasion came on one Sunday morning, the 
twenty-second of April, 1775. As the people were going to church, 
swift riders flew past with the news of the battles of Lexington and 
Concord, three days before. The tory assembly never dared to 
meet again. Governor Tryon remained with what little authority 



Chap. IX] SUMMARY OF PERIOD II. 0.'5 

he could hold until October luid tlieii betook liimself to the muii-of- 
war Asia, Avhich hovered about tlie bay. English rule in the city 
might for a time be restored ; in the new-born State of New York 
it was ended forever. 

SUMMARY OF EVENTS, — PERIOD II. 

16G4. Nichols the first English governor. 

1673. Surrender to the Dutch fleet. 
Colve military governor. 

1674. New York restored to the Englisli by treaty. 
Andros governor. 

1682. Delaware purchased by William Penn. 

1683. Dongan governor. 

Assembly called ; a charter formed ; the colony divided 
into counties. 

1685. The Duke of Y^ork becomes James II. 

1686. New Y^ork and New England consolidated u.s one 

colony. 

1688. English revolution of 1688. 

1689. Union with New England dissolved. 
Leisler usurps control. 

1690. Burning of Schenectady. 

1691. Death of Leisler. 

1693. First printing press in the colony. 

1698. Bellomont governor. 

1709-11. Failure of the expeditions against Montreal. 

1720. Burnet governor. 

1722. Settlement of Oswego. 

1731. The French build a fort at Crown Point. 

1732. Public Free School organized in New York city. 
1735. Trial of Zenger. 

1737. Revenue granted for one year only. 
1741. Negro panic. 



96 TUE BEGINNING OF A REVOLUTION. [Period n 

17-15. Saratoga destroyed in King George's war. 

1754. The Albany congress. 

1755. Beginning of the French and Indian war; battle of 

Lake George. 

1756. Capture of Oswego by Montcalm. 

1757. Surrender of Fort William Henry to the French. 
Massacre at Palatine Village. 

1758. Defeat of regular and provincial troops at Ticonderoga. 
Capture of Fort Frontenac. 

1759. Capture of all French posts in New York. 

1760. Navigation laws revived and enforced. 

1765. Stamp Act, November 1 ; Congress at New York city. 

1766. Stamp Act repealed. 
The liberty pole. 

1767. Duties on imports. 

Vermont decided to be part of New York colony. 

1770. Battle of Golden Hill. 

1771. Tryon governor. 

1774. Arrival of the taxed tea. 

Great meeting in the Fields occasioned by the Boston 

Port Bill. 
First Continental Congress. 

1775. Tyron, the last English governor, leaves the colony. 



FEI^IOID III. 
CHAPTER .\. 



Xew York ix the PlEvolutiox.— 1775-1781. 
The Pevolutionary war was simply tlie last of a long series of 
contests for political freedom, — a series in which were the first peti- 
tions for a charter, the Leislerian uprising against the aristocracy, 
the contest for an honest use of the revenue, the Zenger trial, the 
defeat of the Stamp Act, the non-importation agreement. 

The Green Mountain Boys. — The men who first gained a vic- 
tory over English soldiers in New York were a band of despised out- 
laws. The present State of Vermont had been declared to be part 
of New York. The New York government, however, had unwisely 
attempted to exact from the settlers of the New Hampshire grants 
a second price for their improved farms. Sheriffs were sent to 
enforce the claims ; these New York officers met armed resistance 
and in a skirmish at Westchester killed a man and wounded others. 
In defense the inhabitants raised a band of militia called the Green 
Mountain Boys. They were led by such men as Ethan Allen and 
Seth Warner, for whose capture as outlaws the assembly of New 
York offered a reward of two hundred and fifty dollars each. 

Just as a war between colonies seemed probable, news of Lexing- 
ton came ; and brave bands organized to fight colonists turned 
against a common foe. On the night before the tenth of May, 
1775, Ethan Allan took eighty-three men across Lake Champlain 
from the Vermont side, surprised the English garrison, took them 

(07) 



98 NEW YORK IJT THE REVOLUTION. [Period III 

prisoners " In the name of the Great Jehovah and tlie Continental 
Congress," and thus easily possessed himself of great stores and of 
tliat fortress for wliich large armies had fought. The next day 
CroM'u Point surrendered to Seth Warner ; and in a few days Lake 
Champlain was in the hands of the patriots. 

Choosing Sides. — The entire State was active. On the day of 
Allen's victory, John Jay, Robert P. Livingston and George Clin- 
ton, of Xew York, were assembling with the delegates of other 
colonies in the second Continental Congress at Philadelphia ; com- 
panies of vohmteers were drilling ; British troops were leaving New 
York city for Boston, the seat of action. Colonists could no longer 
remain neutral ; citizens found papers thrust before them upon 
which to declare which side they chose. Then it was evident that 
a majority of the people of Xow York wished to resist illegal tax- 
ation. Western Long Island did for a time seem to be under the 
control of the tories ; and in the valley of the Mohawk, John John- 
son, son of Sir William Joliiison, was collecting a company of royal 
militia. But even there the patriots outnumbered them, and at Scho- 
harie put to flight a company of men wearing red cockades and in 
tlie affray killed an Indian. This was an unfortunate incident ; for 
the Iroquois were already inclined to side with the English and in 
the end a part of tlie Oneidas only aided the patriots. 

Military Events of 1775. — The patriots of New York were 
called upon by the Continental Congress to furnish for the war 
tliree tliousand men. By that congress George Washington, of 
Virginia, had been chosen commander-in-chief of the forces to be 
raised, and on the twenty-fifth of June, eight days after the battle 
of Bunker Hill, he passed tlirough the city of New York on his way 
to take command of the crowd of armed men hovering about Boston. 
Philip Schuyler and Richard Montgomery of New York were also 
appointed generals ; Schuyler was put in command of the army of 
the north with orders to protect the Canadian frontier. Further 



Chap. X] ORGANIZATION^ OF A STATE GOVERNMENT. OO 

on he was directed by congress, contrary to the advice of wise gen- 
erals, to invade Canada. But Schuyler falling sick turned over thu 
command to Montgomery, a brave young Irishman, who, after gain- 
ing renown in Europe, had married a daugliter of lJ()])ert K. Liv- 
ingston and adopted Kew York State as liis liome. ^luntgomery, 
leading his men over the oft tried Lake Champlain route, took 
Montreal, joined Benedict Arnold marching from Wasliington's 
camp at Cambridge, and on the last day of 1775, in the vain charge 
upon Quebec, fell mortally wounded. 

New York the Centre of Action.— With tlie failure of the 
Canadian expedition the first year of the Revolution ended. As 
the next year opened Washington held the English tightly in Bos- 
ton, and independence was boldly talked tliroughout the land. 
When in March W^ashington drove the English from Boston, 
he knew well that they would next attempt to land in the large 
harbor of New York. So hastening his troops he arrived in New 
York city in April and began to fortify the poorly defended island 
of Manhattan. The city became a camp ; powder and muskets were 
made ; the awkward farmers were drilled ; tories were ridden on 
rails ; families who were able to get away packed what they cuuKl 
carry and fled. Washington had little hope of keeping Ilowe'a 
25,000 veterans from New York city with his 17,000 raw militia, 
poorly clothed, fed and armed ; but he intended to make the capture 
as costly as possible. 

The Beginnings of a State Governnient.--Although armies 
were gathering, the organization of a State government was not to 
be neglected. The first step was a mass meeting at which a com- 
mittee of a hundred was appointed ; the committee called f«>r a 
convention of tlie representatives of the people; the convention 
ordered a more permanent assembly to be elected. The first busi- 
ness of the assembly was to appoint a committee of its members 
to draft a State constitution. 



100 



NEW YORK IX THE REVOLUTION. 



[Period III 



On the ninth of July this assembly met at White Plains to con- 
sider tlie Declaration of Independence, which a few days before the 
Continental Congress had jniblished to the world. The news of 
the declaration was welcomed with delight at Xew York city ; and 
the statue of the king was melted into bullets. The new State of 
New York gave assent to the declaration and was the first thereafter 
to receive in its borders the hostile army of England. 
The English occupy New York City. — Before July was gone, 
Howe landed on Staten Island ; thence he crossed to 
Long Island ; late in the month of August he met 
and defeated the patriot army in the battle of Long 
Island and following them across the river, in Sep- 
tember, took possession of the city of Kew York. 
Washington did not at once leave the island but 
successfully fortified himself on Harlem Heights 
and at Fort Washington. This fortress was between 
the present One Hundred and Eighty-first and One 
Hundred and Eighty-sixth streets, '^the highest 
point on the island and completely commanding the 
navigation of the river/* 

Washington, however, finding that he was likely 
to be surrounded, left a garrison at the fort and 
retreated into Westchester county. Here he was 
TuK LowEK Hud- defeated in an attempt to make a stand at White 

SON Valley in tub t-,, • ^ , ^ t , -k^ i n ii 

Revolution. riains, Dut was more successiul at iSorth Castle. 

When he learned, however, of the loss of Fort Washington and all 
Manhattan island, he determined to lead his army toward Phila- 
delphia ; so crossing the Hudson at King's Ferry, he turned south 
to begin the terrible retreat through New Jersey and closed the 
year with the brilliant capture of a thousand Hessians. Washing- 
ton never again led the main army into Xew York State for battle. 
Yet ho himself and his officers frequently returned to the Hudson 
to cross into New England. 




Chap. X] burgoyne's ixvasiox. 101 

The Hudson River never completely fell into the hands of the 
English ; and tlius that valley was ever a conneeting link between 
New England and the other States. Indeed this river was, as in 
the French and Indian war, the key to success. The failure of tlie 
English to connect Montreal and New York city left tlie thirteen 
States a geographical unit. The English entrenched tliemselves 
at New York city, not merely because they had been driven 
from Boston, but because this was a great strategic point, a first 
step in securing the Hudson valley and thus in cutting the colonies 
in two. 

Burgoyne's Invasion. — In accordance with this plan General 
Burgoyne was sent from England to Canada, thence to march over 
the Champlain route to the Hudson ; a second force under St. 
Leger was ordered up the St. Lawrence, over Lake Ontario and 
through the Mohawk valley; w^hile the English general at New 
Y^'ork city was to move up the Hudson and meet Burgoyne and St. 
Leger at Albany. In the early spring of the year Burgoyne's ten 
thousand regulars, Hessians, tories and Indians were sailing up 
Lake Champlain. They easily captured Fort Ticonderoga and 
drove General Schuyler with his little army of the north back to 
Fort Edward. 

By this time St. Leger had made his way to Oswego and was 
ready to lay waste central New Y'ork. With him was John 
Johnson and his company of tories from Tryon and Schoharie 
counties ; and there too was Joseph Brant, chief of the ^lohawks 
with his band of Iroquois. This army, about two thousand in all, 
was soon at Fort Stanwix (Rome) besieging the little garrison. It 
was time for the farmers of the Mohawk to awake. 

Battle ofOriskany. — The owners of the farms in the path of 
the English were mainly Germans, descendants of the Palatinates. 
Their commander of militia was General Herkimer. He called for 
all men between the ages of sixteen and sixty, and taking eight 



102 



NEW YORK IN" THE REVOLUTION. 



[Period III 



hundred men, armed with muskets and rude spears, set forth to 
help his countrymen at Fort Stanwix. The band of farmers 
passed tlie site of Utica and within six miles of the fort, at Oris- 
kany, fell into an ambush. 

After the first murderous volley from the hid- 
den guns, the patriots sprang behind trees or 
. turning back to back loaded and fired ; though 
outnumbered they had no thought of retreat. 
Men fought with knives hand to hand ; tories 
and their patriot neighbors were in deadly com- 
bat. For five hours the slaughter continued. 
There was no battle array to give confidence to the 
men ; no beating of drums or floating of banners 
infused the inspiration of war. At last the In- 
dians having lost their bravest chiefs fled, and 
the English retreated to the camp about Fort 
Stanwix. The field was left to the men of New 
York to bury their two hundred dead ; for a 
fourth of their number had fallen in this the 
bloodiest battle of the devolution.* Herkimer 
himself was mortally wounded. 

Soon after this battle a rumor that Arnold was 
coming with help from the Hudson terrified the 
shattered invading army, and starting back to 
Oswego, they fled so hastily as to leave their arms 
behind. Burgoyne's expedition was doomed ; its 
fate was largely decided at Oriskany. This bat- 
tle " of all the Kevolution '' brings glory to New 
Bluooyne's Invasion. York State. Here her farmers stopped the tide 
of invasion ; freed from fear on the west they turned eastward 
to defeat Bur^joyne. 

•Tho nunilHT killed at Oriskauy cuui pared wiib tlio uumber engaged was larger thaa 
tnany other buttle of the war. 




Chap. X] A STATE COXSTITUTION. 103 

Surrender of Burgoyne-— He liad already blundered. From 
Ticonderoga choosing the route by Whitehall and Fort Ann rather 
than over Lake George, he spent a full month climbing over the 
trees which Schuyler had left in his path to the Hudson. By t'nut 
time militia had gathered increasing the American army to ten 
thousand men. 

At last on Bemis Heights the armies met and in the two battles, 
called the battles of Saratoga, the forces of Burgoyne wore first 
checked and then crippled. The credit of these victories was not 
to go to Schuyler, for Congress in a fit of impatience had put in 
his place the inefficient Gates ; he simply carried out the plans of 
Schuyler and closed in upon Burgoyne. The English general held 
out in hopes of help from General Clinton at Xew York. But Clin- 
ton contented himself with going up the Hudson as far as Kingston, 
and after wantonly burning that to^vn sailed back to Xew York 
city. Burgoyne, at last, cut off from supplies on the north, disap- 
pointed in help from St. Leger and Clinton on the west and south, 
and beaten back at Bennington on the east, surrendered. 

The crisis of the Revolution was passed ; the States were still a 
unit. France saw the evidence of a strong people and offered lier 
aid. From this time success in war, if not certain, was yet probable. 
The joy which filled American hearts at the defeat of Burgoyne 
could not be dispelled, during these last days of ITTT, by Washing- 
ton's misfortune at the Brandywine and at Gernumtown, by the 
loss of Philadelphia, or by that winter's sufferings at Valley Forge. 

A State Constitution.— The same year marks the beginning of 
an organized State government. During the two years following 
the fall of the colonial government in 1775, the provincial congress 
meeting at various places along the Hudson had conducted civil 
affairs. One stern duty of those days was the expulsion of citizens 
hostile to the cause of freedom. Nor is it to be supposed that the 
tories were few and scattering ; they were especially numerous in 



104 XEAV YORK IX THE REVOLUTION. [Period III 

the south-eastern counties. Tliere were more tories in New York 
tluin in any other State. Such persons, if they were not thought 
deserving of liursher treatment, were banished to the English lines 
about New York city or were sent for safe keeping to IS'ew England. 
The temporary State congress early in IvTT, having assembled at 
Kingston, adopted a constitution largely the work of John Jay. 
This constitution called for the election by the people of a gov- 
ernor and of a legislature of two branches ; and though it allowed 
human slavery and required the voter to be a property owner, it 
provided fully for the civil and religious liberty of the common 
citizens. The people now proceeded to elect George Clinton to be 
the first governor of the State of Xew York. Thus a territory 
governed for a hundred and fifty years by lawgivers from Amster- 
dam and London came under the control of rulers chosen by its 
own inhabitants. 

1778. — In the following year the English changed their plan of 
war ; they withdrew from Philadelphia and on their retreat to New 
York city were attacked and defeated by Washington at Monmouth. 
This was the last general engagement at the north ; henceforth 
the English directed their activity toward the southern States ; and 
while their army there was overrunning Georgia and the Carolinas, 
the force at New York city was content to plunder the towns of 
the coast during the summer and to spend the winters with the tory 
inhabitants in feasting and gaming. Washington with his little 
army on the heights of New Jersey kept the enemy close to their 
headquarters. 

But the latter half of the war, in which many of the northern 
States were free from disturbance, brought to New York widespread 
loss of life and property. The operations in the State during these 
four years were of two kinds : — the Indian warfare west of the Cats- 
kills and in the Afohawk valley, and the incursions of the regular 
English army about the lower waters of the Hudson. 



Chap. X] TROUBLE WITH THE INDIANS. 105 

Indian Warfare. — Early in the season of 1778 tlie Iroquois, 
eager to avenge their loss at Oriskany, burst upon the settlements. 
Joined with them Avere many New York tories who, expelh'd from 
their homes, hacked down their former neighbors with more than 
Indian brutality. The settlements about Otsego lake were de- 
stroyed, Cobleskill and German Flats (Ilion) were hurned ; the 
Schoharie valley was laid waste ; at Cherry VaHey death and de- 
struction culminated. There a fort had been built and a company 
of troops stationed. The little town of three hundred inhabitants 
was the most important of the scattered settlements along the upper 
waters of the Susquehanna, settlements extending then to the 
present limits of Broome county. Up this river in late November, 
when further attacks were not feared, hastened a band of seven hun- 
dred Indians and tories fresh from the Wyoming massacre in Penn- 
sylvania. Walter Butler, son of John Butler, the rich and cruel 
tory of the Mohawk who led the raid into the Wyoming valley, 
headed this band of butchers. They cut down nearly fifty persons, 
mostly women and children, outside the fortifications ; and while 
they did not capture the fort, they destroyed the village and car- 
ried forty prisoners away.* 

Sulliyan's Expedition, 1779.— The next year the patriots made 
a united effort to punish the Iroquois. From Fort Stanwix a com- 
pany marched westward to destroy the Onondaga towns. Anotlier 
expedition under General Sullivan was sent by Washington himself 
up the Susquehanna. To join this force General James Clinton, a 
brother of Governor Clinton, set out from Albany with a company 
of militia. They marched from the Mohawk to Otsego lake, and, 
damming the outlet of this for a while, floated down on the flood 

* Fate had a fitting end for Walter Butler. When fleein;? from defeat at Johnstown he 
was pursued by an Oneida Indian who "with a rifle ball brouKht him to the cround." 
"Butler now piteously begged for mercy. The Oneida brandishing his tomahawk rt>pliod 
in broken English ' Sherry VaUey, remember Sherry Valley I ' and cleft his skull." 



106 



NEW YORK IN THE REVOLUTION. 



[Period III 



to Tioga * and there joined the main body under General Sullivan. 
Thence together they marched westward, met the enemy under 
Jolinson, Brant and Butler, near the present site of Elmira, and 
easily defeated them. At this point tliey turned north between 
Seneca and Cayuga lakes, destroying the orchards, cornfields and 
villages of the half-civilized Indians ; they crossed the Genesee 
river and returning laid bare the country far and wide. Their 
deeds were not above censure ; the result of the expedition was to 
make still fiercer the hatred of the Indians. 




Interior New York in the Revoltjtion. 

During the last years of the war the Iroquois and tories terrorized 
the valley of the Mohawk to Fort Hunter and the Schoharie ; they 
left their mark of bones and ashes at Johnstown, Tribes Hill and 
Stone Arabia ; they even appeared among the settlers of Ulster and 
Orange counties. Before the slow-moving militia could reach them, 
they were gone. 

Tryon county, which was then all of the State west of the north 

and south line of the Schoharie river, had at the beginning of this 

murderous warfare about ten tliousand inhabitants. About a third 

of tbem, it is estimated, went over to the English ; another third 

• Now Athens, Pa., a few miles south of Waverly, N. Y. 



Chap. X] OPERATIONS ALONG THE HUDSON. 107 

were killed or disappeared. When the awful deeds were over, three 
hundred widows and two thousand orphans were left to tell what 
the interior of New York did for American independence. 

Operations along the Hudson.— The patriot citizens of Tryon 
county accomplisiied one great result in that they preventt'd tlio 
marauding bands of the enemy from passing the Catskills and fall- 
ing upon the Hudson river towns. That valley was the h()i)e of 
America. The lower counties overrun now by Americans and now 
by the English witnessed many stirring scenes such as are pictured 
by Fenimore Cooper, the novelist of New York, in ^^The Spy." 

After the English General, Clinton, burned Kingston, during the 
Burgoyne campaign, and captured the forts further down the river, 
there was no operation of note until *^ Mad" Anthony Wayne ap- 
peared before the English fortifications at Stony Point. Stony 
Point is a cape reaching out into the river below the highlands and 
commanding the stream. Wayne in a brilliantly executed attack, 
planned by Washington, captured the fort and with a loss of fifteen 
killed, took five hundred prisoners, and destroyed the works. 

A year later a sadder scene darkened this region. A few miles 
above Stony Point, Washington had caused West Point to be forti- 
fied in order to hold the upper valley and to secure communications 
with New England. Here he placed Benedict Arnold ; here the 
hero of Quebec and Beniis Heights became a traitor to his coun- 
try ; here he wrote his letters to the English general at New York 
proposing to betray the works and tlie control of the Hudson ; here 
Andre met him to complete the plans. It was at Tarrytown a few 
miles further south that three farmers, David Williams, John 
Paulding and Isaac Wart, captured Andre, the spy ; and across the 
river at Tappan he was hanged. 

Andre's treatment was very different from that of Nathan Hale, 
who four years before, during the operations around New \ork 
city, was sent by Washington to gain information of the enemy. 



108 NEW YORK ix THE REVOLUTioi^. [Period III 

Both men by the laws of war were justly executed. Hale was 
hanged the morning after his capture, was denied a minister or a 
bible or even the privilege of writing to his mother. Andre was 
given two weeks to prepare his defence, and was treated with every 
courtesy. The contrast between the two scenes did not serve to 
bring the Americans into a better feeling toward the English. If 
anything was needed to remove all further love for the mother 
country, it was the treatment received by the patriot prisoners in 
New York city. Here placed on rotten ships anchored in the bay 
or crowded into sugar warehouses they died among horrors not to 
be told. 

The Last Campaign. — While Arnold escaped punishment. 
West Point and the Hudson did not fall into English hands. The 
next year six thousand Frenchmen, who had landed in Ehode 
Island, crossed the river and joined the forces of Washington. 
Clinton in New York city deceived by the movements of the 
American general diligently prepared for an expected attack. 
While he was busy, Washington with the French and American 
army was hurrying south to capture Cornwallis, who after devas- 
tating the States south had marched into Virginia. Before Clin- 
ton could reach Cornwallis at Yorktown with aid, that general had 
been forced to surrender. W^ashington now confident of final suc- 
cess led his troops back to the north, established his headquarters 
at Newburg on the Hudson, and waited for the declaration of 
peace. 



CHAPTER XL 



New York under the Confederatiox. — 1781-1789. 

In the year in which Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown tho 
thirteen States united under one general government. Eacli colony 
had early in the war formed a State government. During the Revo- 
lution, however, there was no common government cxoept as each 
State sent delegates to congress at Philadelphia and allowed that 
body to do what was necessary to carry on the war. 

The constitution adopted in 1781 was called the Articles of Con- 
federation. It had been prepared the year after the Declaration of 
Independence, and ratified by New York the following year, but did 
not go into effect until adopted by Maryland, the thirteenth State. 
The confederated States were expected to act as one luition ; but 
there was no president, nothing but a congress which could advise 
the States what to do, but could not make them obey. The gov- 
ernment was really a league of friendship between thirteen sepa- 
rate nations. 

New York a Nation.— Accordingly within the limits of New 
York the laws of the State government were supreme. The power 
to levy taxes on goods brought from abroad, the control of the 
harbor of New York city, and the right to coin money,— powiTS 
now belonging to the United States government,— were then held 
by the legislature of the State. The State was generally ready to 
do what the common welfare demanded. New York has the dis- 
tinction of being the only one of the thirteen States which, during 
the war, met every request of congress for men and money ; the 

State srave even more than was asked. 

(109) 



110 UNDER THE CONFEDERATION. [Period III 

The Western Territory. — With like spirit Kew York took the 
lead of the States in giving up to congress its claims over the west- 
ern territory. The United States at the close of the Revolution 
lay between the Atlantic ocean and the Mississippi river. Tliis land 
was cut into two strips by the Alleganies ; to the east of the moun- 
tains were the thirteen States ; to the west was the territory which 
in colonial times belonged to the separate colonies. The land from 
which tlie States of Ohio and Indiana have since been marked out 
was claimed at the same time by New York and several other States. 
The difficulty was completely solved by all giving up the control of 
the territory to congress. 

Revenue Taxes. — While New York was liberal in the matter of 
war supplies and its western lands, it was seltish in taking all the 
duties from foreign trade. If the general congress was to have any 
power at all it was necessary that it should levy and collect these 
duties. This privilege the State had voted to congress while the 
English were still in the city ; but when the English were gone and 
the revenues increased, the legislature took back the gift and 
refused congress any control of the harbor of New York city. 
Meanwhile the State had been making treaties with the Indian 
tribes just as an independent nation would do. This was before the 
continental army was disbanded. 

Evacuation. — For two years after the victory at Yorktown, 
Wasiiington waited at Newburg for the treaty of peace. His ill- 
paid army which was still needed to watch the English in New 
York city complained bitterly of the treatment of congress and was 
even ready to make AVashington king. At last on the twenty-fifth 
of November, a day ever since known in the city as evacuation day. 
the army of America marched down the Bowery road as the last 
English ship sailed away. 

It was a sorry sight which met the patriot eyes, as many of them 
after seven years of banishment looked for their homes. The city 



Chap. XI] 



TREATMENT OF THE TORIES. 



ni 



had greatly changed. Sliortly after the English captured xho town 
a raging fire had wiped out nearly one-third of the city ; houses 
and churches had been used by the soldiers and horses. One min- 
ister returned to find his church used for a stable, and was able to 
gather together but thirty-seven of his two hundred cliurr-h 
members. 

A few days later, December fourth, in Fraunoos' tavern, \Vash- 




ScENE OP Washington's Farewell. 

ington took tearful leave of his fellow soldiers and was rowed across 
the river to begin his homeward journey to Mount Vernon. As 
the people who watched the boat move off turned from tlie scene, 
they felt the full effect of the terrible conflict ; then with broken 
families they began to rebuild their homes from the blackened 
ruins. 

Treatment of the Tories. — All their bitter hatred now fdl 
upon their neighbors who had favored the king. Many of the 
tories did not dare to return ; and most of those who showed them- 
selves were forced by persecution to move away. A ma^^s meeting 
of the citizens of the interior was held at Fort Plain, and soon after 
New York city was evacuated, an old time gathering of the Sons of 



112 rxDER THE CONFEDERATION. [Period III 

Liberty was held in tlie Fields. At these meetings passionate 
speakers stirred up the hatred of the people against the tories. As 
a result the legislature passed a law banishing those who had sup- 
ported the king. This law was contrary to the treaty of peace 
with England ; it was unjust too, in the minds of such men as 
Hamilton and Schuyler ; and by the efforts of those men the law 
was finjdly rej^ealed. 

Albany and the West. — The English, also, broke the treaty by 
refusing to give up the forts at Oswego, Ogdensburg and JS'iagara. 
One effect of this was to keep away from Albany the fur trade 
which had made it the lively city of colonial days. At the close of 
the Revolution, Albany had three thousand inhabitants, and was the 
sixth city in size in tlie United States ; it continued to prosper; for 
the increased grain crops on all sides, especially to the north and 
west, made it for some years the grain centre of America. 

To the westward the settlers were now pouring in a flood. The 
Iroquois who had made war against their old friends the colonists 
were doomed to lose their kingdom in central New York. To the 
northward the settlements which were begun before the Revolution 
were revived; Clinton county was settled and received the name of the 
governor. Many of the settlers in all parts of the State were 
soldiers to whom land was given in return for their services. Among 
them. General Steuben, a volunteer from Germany, was rewarded 
with sixteen thousand acres in Oneida county. 

New England Settlers. — The immigrants to central New York 
were largely from Massachusetts aiul Connecticut. The original 
charters of those colonies were so worded as to give them some 
claim to the western part of Xew York. The claims of ^Massa- 
chusetts were settled by giving to residents of that State a right to 
occu})y millions of acres in the Genesee valley, along Seneca lake 
and between the Oswego and Chenango rivers. Thus these regions 



Chap. XI] INCORPORATION- OF THE I50AUI) OF RKGENTS. 113 

were largely settled by people from the less fertile farms of Xcw 
England. 

Hugh White, from Connecticut, made an advance settlement at 
Whitestown, near the present Utica, and from thence a wagon ^^nu\ 
was made later through to the Genesee, thus opening to settlement 
the third great river valley of New York State. 

The Population of the State at this time was a little over a 
quarter of a million, or one-twentieth of the population of 1880, a 
hundred years later. The population of 250,000 which New York 
had in 1780 was less than the number of people who in issO lived 
in the city of Buffalo ; but ten years after the Revolution Jiullalo 
was simply a storehouse, built for the fur trade at the foot of 
Lake Erie. 

In New York city there were twenty-five thousand people ; the 
place then occupied but a smaU fraction of its present limits. The 
city quickly revived after the English left ; the next year congress, 
which had been meeting at Philadelphia, removed thither, and at 
the same time the State legislature, after trying Poughkeepsie, 
Kingston and Albany as State capitals came to New York city and 
there remained for four years. During all those years George Clin- 
ton was governor of the State, being elected at the end of each 
term of three years almost without opposition. 

The Board of Regents.— One of the first acts of the legislature 
after assembling at New York city was to create a Board of Kegenta 
to take charge of King's college. This school was closed when the 
English occupied the city, but it was revived under the name of 
Columbia college and its first graduate thereafter was the gover- 
nor's nephew, DeWitt Clinton. All higher schools and colleges of 
the State were afterward put in charge of the Board of Regents ; 
but the common free schools were as yet hardly thought of. 

Weakness of the Confederacy.— While the State prospered 

and its government grew strong, the government of the thirteen 



114 UNDER THE coxFEDERATiON. [Period III 

States was fast proving a failure. Washington was freely pointing 
out the weakness of the league of States ; Hamilton was calling for 
a stronger government. Congress was despised ; it was no longer 
the able body which made the Declaration of Independence. The 
great men of New York and of other States preferred to be elected 
to the State legislatures where their votes would count for some- 
thing. 

Although the State treasuries were filling up, congress could 
hardly pay its debts. It made one last appeal to the States for the 
revenues of the ports ; all agreed, except Xew York which refused 
to give up its fast increasing profits. The condition of things 
was becoming desperate. England was looking gleefully at the 
api^arent failure of the United States. 

A New Constitution. — A convention of delegates from the 
States was finally called to meet at Philadelphia, in 1787, to revise 
the Articles of Confederation. The convention soon found that 
they must write an entirely new constitution. To this. Governor 
Clinton of Xew York and a majority of the legislature were opposed. 
They were unwilling to give up any of the sovereign rights of the 
State. When two of the three delegates from New York, Yates 
and Lansing, found that the Philadelphia convention was bent upon 
making a new constitution, they left the meeting and went home, 
leaving Alexander Hamilton to represent the State alone. 

From May till September the convention labored on, and after 
much strife agreed upon the present constitution of the Ignited 
States. Then came the struggle for its adoption in the different 
States. 

The Two Parties. — While one State and another were agreeing 
to the constitution, the opposition in New York was bitter. It was 
witli difliculty tliat a convention could even be called to consider 
the question ; such a meeting of delegates elected from the differ- 



Chap. XI] FEDERALISTS AND AXTI-FEDEUALISTS. 115 

ent counties was called, however, to meet at Poughkeepsie in 1788, 
with power to adopt or reject the new constitution. The opposi- 
tion were in a clear majority and Governor Clinton wa« elected 
president of the meeting. 

Joined with Clinton in opposing the new union were Yates, 
Lansing and Melancthon Smitii. They and their party were known 
as anti-federalists. They believed in State rights ; they argued that 
the proposed government would have too much power and would 
result in the president's becoming king. Tliey appealed stronirly to 
the selfishness of the people of New York by showing that tho 
wealth now pouring into the State treasury at New York city would 
go to all the States alike. 

On the other side were Alexander Hamilton, Phili]) Schuyler, 
John Jay and Robert R. Livingston. These men and those of the 
same mind were known as the federalist party. They argued that 
the confederacy was a failure, and that a more perfect union was a 
necessity ; that such a union would bring so many benefits that tlio 
State could well afford to give up some of its revenue. Tliese argu- 
ments together with a full explanation of the proposed constitution 
were fully circulated among the people of America in tlio famous 
papers of Hamilton known as the Federalist. These articles, i)ul>- 
lished in New York city papers, were largely the means of convert- 
ms the voters of the State to believe in the new union. 

o 

Adoption.— But events moved the convention at Poughkcepsie 
more than arguments. While the representatives of New York 
were debating. New Hampshire, the ninth State, ratified; and 
since it had been agreed that when nine States ratified the consti- 
tution, it should go into effect among them, the union was assured. 
Then Virginia, the most populous State, after hesitating, came in 
as the tenth State. 

As still day after dav the men of New York held back, Hamilton 
in a three hours' speech at Poughkeepsie again argued oloqueutly for 



116 Ui^^DER THE CONFEDERATION. [Period III 

adoption. Tears were seen in the eyes of listeners ; the opposition 
■wavered, and enough came over to the side of the federalists so that 
■on the final vote of fifty-seven delegates, a hare majority of three 
brought New York into the union. 

Beginning of the New Union. — The deed once done seemed to 
the rehictant people the best thing to be done, and the friends of 
the new government rapidly came to be a majority. All felt the 
more secure because Washington would surely be made presi- 
dent. All strife in the State was not over, and owing to quarrels 
of the two parties no electors were chosen and so New York had 
no part in the first election of Washington. Egbert Benson and 
four others were elected as the first members of the house of repre- 
sentatives from the State, and after a time the legislature selected 
Rufus King and Philip Schuyler to be the first United States 
senators. 

The fourth of March, 1789, the day set for tlie beginning of the 
new government, was greeted at New York city, where tlie old con- 
gress liad met and where the new congress w^as to assemble, with the 
firing of cannon. The new order of things started slowly ; and it 
was April tliirtieth when Washington was ready to be inaugurated. 
In his triumplial march from Mount Vernon he had come over the 
bay as he liad departed five years before. The new president, 
standing in Federal hall, Wall street, received the oath of office 
from Robert R. Livingston. 

The inauguration day was joyous with processions and banquets, 
solemn with services in the churches, and brilliant at its close with 
fireworks and ilhiminations. Such scenes there were as well might 
be commemorated, a hundred years later, April 30th, 1889, with a 
glorious celebration. With such ceremonies New York yielded up 
the sovereign ])ower which it liad held for fourteen years and be- 
came an inseparable part of the American republic. 



Chap. XI] SUMMARY OF PERIOD III. 117 

SUMMARY OF EVENTS, — PERIOD III. 

1775. Temporary State government established. 

Capture of Ticonderoga ; expedition to northern New- 
York and Canada. 

1776. Capture of New York city by the Englisli. 

New York ratifies the Declaration of Inde])endeiice. 

1777. Burgoyne's expedition ; battle of Oriskany ; battles of 

Saratoga ; surrender of Burgoyne. 
State constitution adopted ; Clinton governor. 

1778. Cherry Valley massacre. 

1779. Sullivan's expedition ; Wayne's capture of Stony Point. 

1780. Arnold's treason at West Point. 

1781. Washington's army leave New York for the last cam- 

paign at Yorktown. 
Articles of Confederation take effect. 

1783. Evacuation of New York city. 

1784. Board of Regents formed. 

The legislature and congress meet at New York city. 

1787. Formation of the constitution of the United States. 

1788. New York adopts the constitution. 

1789. Inauguration of Washington at New York city. 



CHAPTER XII. 



In the Last Decade of the Eighteenth Century. — 
1790-1800. 

New York city in 1789 and 1790 was a lively place ; it had 
recovered from the effects of the war ; it was the capital of the 
State and of the United States. Its citizens were among the lead- 
ers of the new government. Alexander Hamilton, as the secretary 
of the treasury, was the foremost man of Washington's administra- 
tion ; his i^lans for a national revenue put the government on a 
sound foundation. In order to get a majority of congress to sup- 
port his measures he had to agree with Jefferson, of Virginia, to 
fix the permanent capital of the nation on the Potomac river. 
When this was decided, congress, after being at New York city for 
a little over a year, adjourned to Philadelphia, there to remain 
until the new city of Washington was ready. The removal of the 
capital was no loss to the business interests of New York city. 

Parties and Politics. — About the two men, Hamilton and 
Jefferson, the people of the nation were gathering into two parties. 
The party of Hamilton, who kept the name of federalists, were 
for so enforcing tlie constitution as to make a strong national gov- 
ernment. Among the men of this party in New York State, were 
John Jay, then chief justice of the United States, and Schuyler 
and King, the United States senators. 

(118) 



Chaj). XIIJ JOHN JAY GOVEKXOR. 119 

The followers of Jefferson, most of whom liad been anti-feder- 
alists, took the name of republicans. They were Buspieious of the 
new constitution and still fearful of a return to a monarcliy. In 
New York the republicans were led by the governor, George Clin- 
ton, and by Aaron Burr. This Burr was a young and able man ; 
he was rapidly growing in popular favor, and after Scliuyler's sliort 
term of two years he took his place in the senate of the United 
States. Clinton had in 1702 been for fifteen years governor of the 
State. In that year the federalists endeavored to defeat him and 
took John Jay for their candidate. In a vote of 1G,000,* Clinton 
was declared elected by a majority of one hundred and eiglit, after 
throwing out the votes of three federalist counties on account of some 
mistake in reporting the returns. There was a contest at once; the 
State was in a turmoil ; party spirit ran high. Jay, who had a plain 
majority of the votes, submitted calmly to the decision, and Clinton 
took the office for another term of three years. 

In the same year "Washington and Adams were reelected for their 
second terms. Adams was not chosen vice-president without oppo- 
sition ; for George Clinton received fifty of the one hundred and 
thirty-two electoral votes. 

John Jay Governor.— At the following election for governor, 
in 1705, the federalist party again nominated John Jay, as if to 
test the decision of three years before. George Clinton wisely 
refused to be a candidate and Jay was elected by a large majority. 
At the time of his election. Jay was coming from England, whore 
he had just made the famous treaty, known as the Jay treaty, by 
which America gave up much in order to keep peace with Eng- 
land. While time has shown that such a course was best. Jay's 
action was then bitterly denounced . Ilamilton, attempting to 

* The vote was, Clinton 8.440; Jay, 8..-«- Tliis v..te ..f K.TTi was but fiy.. ^.-r .-.-nt c.f th. 
population. At the present time fifteen to twenty per cent of the population voto hi ine 
election of governor. This shows how few men were voters when there was a prv.i)cxxy 
qualification. 



120 FROM 1790 TO 1800. [Period lY 

address a meeting in Wall street in favor of the treaty, was pelted 
with stones. At this time the Livingston family, among them 
Brockholst, the brother-in-law of Jay, joined the growing party of 
republicans. 

Still the federalist party was strong enough in the State to con- 
trol the legislature the next year and thus to choose electors who 
voted for John Adams to succeed Washington as president. At 
that time and for many years afterward the legislature selected the 
electors of president, so that there was no presidential election by 
the voters of the State. 

The Case of Yermont. — While national matters were taking 
80 much attention, the State had important questions to decide. 
Soon after the formation of the union, the long-continued Vermont 
trouble was settled. It had broken out more than once since the days 
of Allen and Warner ; the right of New York over the land between 
the Connecticut river and Lake Champlain had never been enforced. 
During the Revolution, Yermont had declared itself independent 
of Xcw York under the name of New Connecticut. So matters went 
along until after the constitution was adopted, when New York 
consented to Vermont's coming in as a separate State. Thus the 
long struggle was ended, and Yermont had the honor of being the 
first member of the union received after the original States. 

Counties. — There was quite enough territory left in the State to 
busy the law-makers. Yast tracts in the central and western parts 
were sold to speculators. At one time five and a half million acres 
of State land were sold either fraudulently or foolishly at an average 
price of twenty cents an acre. New counties were fast being formed. 
For nearly a hundred years after the organization of the original ten 
counties, there was no change in the number. A few years before 
the Revolution two counties, now called Montgomery and Wash- 
ington, were set off. No further division of the State was made 
until about 1790 when Clinton county in the north, Ontario in the 
west, and Columbia and Rensselaer counties east of the Hudson 



Chap. XU] wat?:k ways. 1-21 

were formed. About the same time, i)arts of Montf^omory, formerly 
Tryoii county, once so overrun by the Indians, were lnui out uk II«t- 
kimer, Otsego, Saratoga and Selioliarie counties, and along tlie 
Pennsylvania border Tioga was tlie first county established. 

Just before the close of the century a number of interior couuiies 
with Indian names, Cayuga, Chenango, Delaware, Oiiei<hi and 
Onondaga, were formed by the legislature. Steuben tlien marked 
the limit of settlement along the southern tier ; Essex was laid 
out by the side of its northern neighbor, Clinton, arid from the 
large original counties along the west bank of the Hudson J{ork- 
land and Greene were set off. Tlius the number of counties at the 
beginning of the nineteenth century had increased to thirty. 

Water Ways. — It is noticeable that counties lying along water 
ways were first settled ; that the western lands of Ontario county 
were taken up before the central territory of Cortland county. The 
net work of lakes and rivers which covered the State rendered its 
settlement rapid. The 300,000 inhabitants of ITOO liad become 
almost 600,000 ten years later. The people had already taken up 
the best farms along the upper Mohawk, the Oenesce and Lake 
Champlain. 

Many plans were proposed for improving the navigation of rivers 
and for cutting canals. Even before the Ke volution the importance 
of connecting the waters of the Hudson river with Lake Champlaiu 
and with Lake Erie or Lake Ontario had been seen. In 170'^ two 
companies were formed to make the Mohawk river navigable by 
cutting canals around the impassable places. Four years later a 
private company dug a canal three miles long around Little Falls, 
and made shorter cuts at German Flats, and from the liead waters 
of the Mohawk to Wood creek, which flows into Oneida lake. But 
the canals were poor and costly; along the rivers boats had to be 
moved against the stream by sails and poles ; so that wagons were 
still used largely in the central parts of the State to get produce 
and goods to and from Albany. 



122 FROM 1790 TO 1800. [Period IV 

Roads and Mails. — The country roads were for the most part 
mere wagon tracks over roots and trees and through mud-holes ; 
bridges were ahnost unknown. The road from Whitestown 
through Geneva was before 1800 continued to Buffalo. To the 
northward another road led from Albany to Clinton county, along 
the old Indian trail to Canada. A post rider in these days took 
the mails once in two weeks from Albany to the Genesee valley. 

Few letters were written in those days of few mails, no envelopes, 
no stamps, high postage and costly paper. The 'New York city 
post-office was in part of a private house and a few boxes were 
enough for the city of fifty thousand inhabitants. There were but 
four newspapers in the city a dozen years after the close of the 
Revolution, three at Albany, and outside of these places not more 
than ten newspapers were published in the State. 

The City of New York was now growing faster than any other 
city in America. A writer of the time says, **The houses are gen- 
erally built of brick and the roofs tiled ; there remain a few houses 
after the old Dutch manner, but the English taste has prevailed 
almost a century. The jn-incipal part of the city lies on the east side 
of the island, although the buildings extend from one river to the 
other. The length of the city on the east side is about two miles, 
but falls much short of that distance on the banks of the Hudson. 
Its breadth, on an average, is nearly three-fourths of a mile, and 
circumference may be four miles. '^ 

The water supply of the city was a problem ; the wells in the 
lower part of the city gave bitter water ; and lines of wagons carried 
better water in hogsheads from wells then in the upper part of the 
city, — places now called ''down town." The fresh water pond, 
where Canal street now is, was still a considerable body of water, 
and there John Fitch was working with a curious boat which he 
hoped to move with steam. The lack of good water was charged 
as the cause of the frequent epidemics of yellow fever which visited 
the city, carrying off in one year over two thousand victims. 



Chap. XII] PROGRESS IN TIIK STATK. \\iA 

Along the Hudson River new life was infused by tlio j^rowth 
of New York city iind the development of the interior; HiuIhoii 
and Troy, places unknown at the close of the war, were outstrip- 
ping the older towns. Hudson was made a port of entry in ITO.*), 
and at one time rivaled New York city in the amount of its ship- 
ping. Troy which was not settled until 17.S0 liad ))efore the clow? 
of the century nearly a million dollars of taxable property. *' ' - '•'••' 
and. lumber were the source of this wealth." 

Just south of Troy, at Albany, the capital of the State wa.s per- 
manently fixed in 1707 ; and that city has since remained the ccntro 
of the political warfare for which the State of New York has over 
been noted. 

Progress, — The year 1800 saw the log cabins of the settlers 
along the south banks of the St. Lawrence, along the rjver banks 
of the Pennsylvania border, while Elmira, Bath and Cauandaigua 
were little huddles of houses which had just been left behind l)y 
the advance guard of settlers. By 1800 New York had passed from 
the fifth to the third in population and wealth among the States of 
the union. 

The laboring men were still for the most part farmers ; but iliey 
were beginning to find other work. Iron had been discovered in 
the State and was being mined and made up into various forms ; 
the tanning of leather and the manufacture of clocks and hats were 
then infant industries. Among cloths, woolen, linen and even silk 
were made. 

The Schools of the State, in the rush of this rapiil pro-re.^, 
fared poorly. The first college organized by the Board of Kegents 
was Union college, at Schenectady, in KOo. The next year the 
Regents reported fourteen academies under their charge. One of 
these schools was founded by Samuel Kirkiand. the missionary to 
the Oneidas, a school which has grown into Hamilton college. 



124 FROM 1790 TO 1800. [Period lY 

The year 1795 is to be remembered as the time of the beginning of 
schools far more important than colleges and academies ; the com- 
mon public schools of Xew York date from that time. The legis- 
lature then voted the sum of fifty thousand dollars yearly for five 
years for the schools of the State ; and an equal amount was raised 
by the local taxation of the counties which chose to share in the 
distribution of the State money. Thus a hundred thousand dollars 
was spent on the common schools, the yearly cost of which a cen- 
tury later is twenty millions of dollars. 

Slayery. — A fact which agrees well with the little attention 
])aid to schools is that human slavery still existed in New- 
York. There were at this time about twenty thousand negro 
slaves in the State, or one in every twenty-five or thirty of the 
people. This ratio was not so large as in early colonial times ; the 
climate of New York did not foster slavery as did that of the 
southern States. John Jay had tried without success to prohibit 
slavery in the first constitution of the State ; and as governor he 
renewed his efforts. When he was a candidate for reelection in 
1798, his opposition to slavery was used as an argument against him. 
But he was successful at the election and the next year partly 
successful in his efforts against slavery, and secured a law for the 
gradual freeing of the negroes. 

The Council of Appointment. — Governor Jay found himself 
hampered by a council of four senators elected by the assembly to 
act with the governor in appointing officers. The governor thought 
that the senators should merely advise him ; the council held that 
they with the governor had the actual power to appoint, and that 
a majority of the five, that is any three, could act even in opposition 
to the governor. This view of the matter was taken by a State con- 
vention called to settle the question. The number of appointed 
officers was large under the first constitution ; such officers as mayori 
of cities, sheriffs of counties and justices of the peace were then ap- 



Chap. XII] DOWNFALL OF THE FKDKKALLSTS. 



rv»5 



pointed by the governor and liis council. Not even the veto power 
yra.s given to the governor under the first constitution, but it waa 
Tested in another council, called the council of revision. 

The Trouble with FraHce.— State politics now gavi« way i.. 
the excitement caused by the threatened war witli France, wiu-n. 
a few years before. Genet (zheh'na) came from France to excite sym- 
pathy for his country, he was heartily received by the republicans 
of New York and married a daughter of George Clinton. IJiit in 
1798 there was less sympathy for the French government which so 
basely insulted the United States. It was decided to fortify New 
York city, which had fallen an easy prey to tbe English army, at a 
cost of over a million dollars ; and Hamilton was under the aged 
Washington to be the real leader of the army. lUit tbe army never 
was needed ; and the mistakes of President Adams in dealing with 
the trouble with France helped to bring about the defeat of the 
federalist party at the next national election. 

Defeat of the Federalists.— The year 1800 nuirks the downfall 

of the federalist party. The death of Wasiiington and the ill-feel- 
inff betw^een the federalist leaders, Hamilton and Adams, hastened 
the defeat. Xew l^ork, as has happened so often since, was the 
State which decided the presidential election. When the logi.-jja- 
ture chose electors favorable to Jefferson, the defeat of Adams was 
certain. 

The next year John Jay refused to be again a canduiaic lor gov- 
ernor ; and George Clinton, after six years of private life, was 
elected for a seventh term eovernor of the State of New York. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Party Strife axd National War. — 1801-1815. 

"When in the opening year of the century George Clinton again 
became governor, he at once discharged all office-holders not of his 
party. This was the beginning of the spoils system in the politics 
of 'New Yoi'k. Jay refused to remove competent officers, whom 
Clinton had loft in office ; but henceforth party allegiance rather 
than ability was to be the first test of the public service. 

Leaders and Factions. — The republican party was now in full 

control of the State. Among the 
party leaders were Aaron Burr, 
Robert R. Livingston and DeAVitt 
Clinton. Burr had reached the 
high office of vice-president of the 
United States ; but he was looked 
upon with distrust ; since he had 
been willing that a defect in 
the constitution should give him 
the presidency, an office to which 
the people had elected Thomas 
Jefferson. Chancellor * Robert 
R. Livingston was appointed min- 
ister to France by President Jef- 
lirson and there negotiated the 
George cuNTON. purchase of Louisiana. Another 

distinguished citizen of New York had represented the nation at 
the court of France, Gouverneur Morris. Just before the federalist 

*Tlie chancellor was the chief .lutlffc of the court of chancery, an officer not named ia 
the present constitution of the State. 

(i-3n) 




Chap. XIII] HAMILTON AND nriiii. 127 

party lost control of tlie Icf^islaturo, Morris was clfctfd to the 
United States senate. 

The man destined to be the most notahle of tlic loaders of the 
time was DeWitt Clinton. As liis unek' had led New York for u 
quarter of a century, so he was to he a leader in the State during tlie 
first twenty-five years of the nineteenth century. Ilt^ he^'an jmblic 
life as the secretary of George Clinton ; in 1802 lie was elecletl to 
the United States senate, but soon resigned to accept an apnoint- 
ment as maj^or of New York city, a place at that time of more 
political power. 

The methods of politicians were less criticised then than they are 
now. Members of the legislature voted charters for banks and in 
return openly received stock at special i)rices. Party strife was 
bitter and called forth personal hatred. The powerful republiean 
party was soon split into factions, one known as liurrites and the 
other as the Clinton and Livingston faction. Burr, though strong 
in the State, received a national rebuke for his readiness to be 
made president in 1800 by being left off the ticket when Jefferson 
was reelected in 1804. In his place George Clinton was chosen vice- 
president.* Burr, smarting under this treatment, turned to \m 
State for vindication and announced himself as an independent 
candidate for governor to succeed Clinton. lie was supported 
largely by the federalists, but failed to get all their votes on account 
of the opposition of Hamilton. As a result Burr was defeated and 
the regular republican candidate, Morgan Lewis, was elected. 

Hamilton and Burr.— Burr now turned his iiatred upon Ham- 
ilton and easily made an excuse to challenge him to a duel. Duel- 
ing, then so popular in the southern States, was tolerated in New 
York. DeWitt Clinton had fought a duel ; Brockholst Livingston 



* George Clinton was vice-president from 1801 to 1812, dyin^ In office In that jemr at the 

age of seventy-three. 



128 J'ARTV .STRIFE AXD XATIONAL AVAR [Pcriofl IV 

had killed a man on Manhattan island ; and a son of Hamilton had 
in a like combat been fatally wounded. 

Hamilton was goaded into accepting the challenge of Burr. One 
early July morning of 1804 tlie two met across the river from New 
York city on the New Jersey shore. That famous duel resulted in 
the death of the greatest statesman that New York has ever given 
to the union ; it forever blasted the hopes of an ambitious politician, 
and made dueling a crime. 

Detested by the people, Burr fled from the State, boldly plotted 
treason against the government, lived an adventurous life in Europe, 
and finally returned to live in New York city to a soured and use- 
less old age. 

Education. — Morgan Lewis, who defeated Aaron Burr and thus 
became the third governor of New York, was interested in schools. 
The appropriation of fifty thousand dollars a year ran out in 1800, 
and since then the legislature had tried to raise money for the schools 
by a lottery. In 1805, at the recommendation of Governor Lewis 
the proceeds of five hundred thousand acres of the State lands were 
set aside, the interest of which was forever to be used for the schools 
of the State. This was the beginning of the permanent school fund. 

The State did not as yet provide any free public schools ; but at 
this time a free school society was formed in New l^ork city by 
private subscription and State aid, to give an education to poor 
children. In 1800 the first free school building in New York city 
was completed ; but it was a charity school : it was yet to be j^ears 
before free schools Avere thrown open to all ; before the law-makers 
ceased to offer education as a charity to the poor, and began to 
realize that it is their first duty to provide an education for all. 

General Advancement.— Several events in and about the year 
1807 mark it as a time of awakening not only in education but in 
morals, literature and mechanical arts. Prisons began to be built 



Chap. XIII] THE FIRST STEAM P.O. \T. 129 

with some thought of cleanliness and decency, from which crim- 
inals would come out better instead of worse ; in ^sew York city 
the first insane asylum was built, and public hospitals were erected. 
Doctors, by a law of the State, were required to show some fitnesg 
for their work, whereas before they had practiced medicine with- 
out a license. 

In New York city there were eight daily j)apers ; one of them, 
the Evening Post, began its life with the century ; another the 
Commercial Advertiser, had once had for its editor Noah Webster, 
whose speller educated a generation of Americans and whose dic- 
tionary has instructed all English-speaking people. Washington 
Irving, the first master of American literature, was publishing tlie 
Salmagundi and making men laugh with his Knickerbocker's His- 
tory of New York. An awakening interest in the history of the 
State was shown by the formation of the New York Historical 
society, an association which has in many ways added to tlie fame 
of New York. In 1809, this society modestly celebrated the two 
hundredth anniversary of Hudson's discovery. 

In the history of manufactures a notable event was the building 
of cotton mills at Whitesboro and of a woolen mill at Oriskany, 
•'believed now to be the oldest wool-making institution in the 
United States,'" where broadcloth worth twelve dollars a yard was 
made from wool costing a dollar and a quarter a pound. 

The First Steamboat.— But the most remarkable event in the 
history of inventions which occurred within the bounds of the 
State was the running of the first successful steamboat. In 180T 
the Clermont made the trip from New York city to Albany ; the 
boat was made by Robert Fulton, encouraged and aided by Robert 
R. Livingston. On the seventh of August the rude craft lay at its 
dock ready to begin a journey against wind and tide : the uncovered 
paddle wheels began to turn and the boat moved away from the 
derisive crowd which lined the shore of the Hudson. On it went 



130 PARTY STRIFE A2^"D IN'ATIOl^AL WAR. [Period IV 

through the Palisades^ making one frightened farmer think that he 
had seen " the devil on his way to Albany in a saw-mill "; and after 
a triumphant trip of thirty-two hours it steamed up to the Albany 
wliarf. 

Fulton did not invent the steamboat ; John Fitch and others 
had moved boats by the use of steam power ; but Fulton was the 
first man to make a paying steamboat. At that time sail boats 
maile the trip between Albany and New York city in from two to 
five days, according to the wind ; and the charge for such a trip 
including board was from six to ten dollars. The Clermont became 
a regular passenger boat ; improvements in steam navigation fol- 
lowed, until thirty years later steamboats crossed the ocean. 

The Embargo. — The improved navigation of the Hudson river 
made the need of a water way to the interior more keenly felt. The 
State was urged to build canals. The legislature ordered the 
Mohawk route surveyed ; but before it was ready to act, threatened 
war with England j^revented all thought of interior improvement. 

When England and France in their quarrel with each other shut 
out our ships from their ports, our government, hoping to force 
them to terms, decreed an embargo. The embargo forbade foreign 
ships from entering our harbors and prevented any ship from sailing 
to a foreign port. At that time New York city had in its foreign 
trade fairly outstripped its rivals, Boston and Philadelphia, and 
was the commercial centre of the continent. The State by means 
of its commerce and agriculture had taken second rank in ])opula- 
tion among the States of the union. But the embargo fell like a 
blight. The business of New York city was at a standstill ; ships 
rotted at the docks ; warehouses and stores were closed ; farmers 
found no market for their produce. 

A Change in Governor and in President. — The embargo was 
laid in the last months of 1807 ; during the same year an election 



Chap. XIII 



THE WAR QUESTION. 



131 



for governor occniTod. After the scattering of the BurritoB, the 

republican party, or the denio- 
cnits, as they now began to be 
called, again split into factions. 
DeWitt Clinton and liis followers 
liad quarreled with the Living- 
stons and Governor Lewis; Clin- 
ton after looking about for a 
candidate to oppose Lewis si*- 
lected a young judge, Daniel I). 
Tompkins,and succeeded in elect- 
ing him. For himself DeWitt 
Clinton had the presidency in 
view, as the next year, 1808, 
would bring the fifth presidential 
election. As Jefferson was to re- 
tire, it was argued with some 

Daniel D. Tompkins. sho W of rcaSOU that the president, 

who at four elections had come from Virginia, should be taken from 
Xew York. The democratic party, however, selected Madison of 
Virginia as its candidate, and Xew York had to be content with 
the reelection of George Clinton to the vice-presidency. 

The War Question.— President Madison took office in a stormy 
time. War with England was at hand. The embargo had been 
raised on the retirement of Jefferson in the spring of 1800 ; it had 
been a disastrous experiment and had not hindered the English in 
their attempts to ruin our commerce ; war seemed to many to be 
the only recourse. To this a majority of the people of New York 
and New England were opposed ; for a war Avould fall most heavily 
upon those commercial States. The opposition to a war revived for 
a while the federalist party at the north ; and in New York, for 
the first time in ten years, tliey controlled the legislature and the 




132 PARTY STRIFE AND NATIONAL WAR. [Period IV 

council of appointment. They replaced democratic officers with 
federalists, only to have them swept from office when the next elec- 
tion brought the usual democratic success. 

The war party was increasing fast, for the acts of England were 
becoming more and more unbearable ; the English searched our 
vessels, imprisoned our seamen, held the western forts which at the 
peace of 1783 they had agreed to give up, and incited the Indians 
to slaughter. Still President Madison strove for peace and only 
when persuaded that his reelection in 1812 depended on favoring 
war with England did he join the war party. The federalist party 
had no candidate for the presidency ; but the opponents of Madison 
supported DeWitt Clinton of New York and though they carried 
seven States, failed to elect him. 

The War of 1812.— Before the presidential election of 1812, 
however, the war had actually begun. In this war New York from 
her position was a most important State, but it was not so much 
exposed as in the war of tlie Revolution. The conflict raged more 
to the westward ; and while the border line of the State was longer 
than in the first war with England, yet no incursions of the enemy 
pierced the interior ; no valleys suffered from the Indian's fire and 
scalping knife ; and above all New York city did not fall into the 
hands of the enemy. 

Along the Border. — At tlie extreme west of the State, the 
Niagara river separates but narrowly the two countries ; and here 
along a line of thirty miles the battles raged for three years. From 
Buffalo and Black Rock northward through Lewiston to Fort 
Niagara on Lake Ontario, the Americans held a line of defences, 
while across the river the English fortified Fort Erie opposite 
Buffalo and strengthened their border through Queenstown to Fort 
George. 

Back and forth over the Niagara river the two armies crossed and 
recrossed. On the Canadian side of the stream our armies gained 



Chap. XIII] 



ALOXG THE BORDER. 



133 




Mew York in tub Wak of lt>l:i. 



great glory but little advantage at tlie 
battles of Queenstown Heights and of 
Luiuly's Lane; they made little head- 
way into Canada. On the other hand 
western Kew York was in danger of 
the enemy. The little villages of Ruf- 
falo and JMaek IJock and others along 
the border of Lake Ontario were burned 
by the English aided by a small rem- 
nant of the Iroquois. At last the rap- 
ture of Forts Erie and George by the 
Americans, the victory of Perry on 
Lake Erie and the success of CJeneral 
Harrison about Detroit freed the west- 
ern part of New York from 
danger. 

The border of the State 
along Lake Ontario and the 
St. Lawrence s u ff e r e d 
much. Sackett's Harbor 
was the most imi)ortant 
point and the centre of 
supplies ; here the heroism 
of a few bravo defenderg 
twice held the place against 
the British fleet. Oswego 
and OLnh'nsburg,l«s fortu- 
nate, were sacked. 
In return our 
a r mies captureil 
York, now Toron- 
to, gained somt 



134 PARTY STRIFE AXD NATIONAL WAR. [Period IV 

successes on the north bank of the St. Lawrence, but did not get 
far into Canada. 

On Lake Ontario the English ships at first held undisputed sway ,• 
then along the shore the Americans rapidly built vessels ; they 
dragged tlie iron works laboriously overland from Albany ; and 
soon they made the lake the scene of stirring events such as fill the 
pages of romance. 

At New York City. — From these inland scenes of warfare, New 
York city was distant a long journey of two or three weeks. Since 
the war of 1812 was largely a naval contest, fought out on different 
parts of the Atlantic, the port of New York was a centre of supplies 
for the American navy. Hither such famous ships as the Consti- 
tution, Wasp, and Essex returned from victories which shattered the 
world-feared navy of Great Britain, until finally the English fleet 
lay off Sandy Hook and blockaded the harbor. 

When the news of the capture and burning of Washington was 
received. New York city expected the long looked for attack. The 
city was poorly protected ; but money was voted for fortifications ; 
and better than that everybody turned out to throw up earth ; 
schools took a holiday ; printers omitted a paper, in order that all, 
men and boys, might help on the work. Soon the Narrows, Brook- 
lyn, Harlem Heights and the islands in the river bristled with forts, 
whose strength the enemy never tested. 

On Lake Chaniplain. — Although the English did not attack 
the forts at the moutli of the Hudson, they did not overlook the 
importance of tlie Champlain and the Hudson valleys. Fourteen 
thousand veterans, trained in the wars with Napoleon, started from 
Canada over the route made famous by Burgoyne. But this army 
never reached the upper waters of the lake. At Plattsburgli a small 
army of Americans stood at tlie Saranac river to oppose the land 
force of the invaders. On the lake General Macdonough (mak- 



Chap. XIII] COMMON SCHOOLS. 135 

dou'-oh) gathered together a few boats to meet the English squadron 
rounding Cumberland head. In one of the pluckiest tights of tliat 
war Macdonough scattered the sliips of the Englisli ; the spirit of 
victory electrified tlie small band on the shore ; and the vctcnms of 
Europe fled back to the Canadian lines. 

By this time the anti-war party in New York State liud about 
disappeared ; but all were glad to hear, in the first days of 1815, 
that peace had been made with England. The treaty did not 
promise that for which the war had been fought ; ])ut the Phiglish 
navy had learned to fear the warships of America ; and never again 
were the merchant vessels sailing from Xew York city boarded by 
English officers in times of peace. Xew York had at fearful cost 
done her part with the other seventeen States in upholding our 
national honor. 

Schools. — During the second war with England the legislature 

created the office of superintendent of common schools, thus giving 
the slowly forming school system a head. Gideon Ilawley was the 
first superintendent of schools and he served for a salary of three 
hundred dollars. 

The West Point military academy was organized by the United 
States government at the beginning of the war. This famous 
school grew out of a military encampment at that Revolutionary 
point, and provided for a trained and educated soldiery. 

A fund for the three colleges of the State, Columbia, Union and 
Hamilton, and for other worthy objects was raised at tliis time by 
the unworthy means of a lottery, a scheme of money-getting which 
people were just beginning to criticise. 

It was during the war of 1812 that a few devout men and w«)nien 
of New York city began to gather children in churches and in 
private houses on Sunday to teach them. Many good people shook 
their heads at this idea of breaking the holy day. Such ]ieople 



136 PARTY STRIFE AND NATIONAL WAR. [Period IV 

would have been very slow to believe that before the century closed 
over a million* people would be attending the Sunday schools of 
the State, and that next to the Christian church the Sunday school 
would exert the greatest power for good. 

* The figures as gfiven by the State Sunday School Association. June, 1890, are,— teachers 
and officers. 114,4eO; children, 769,985; adults, 184,83iJ; total, 1,009,277; number of schools, 
r,594 



CHAPTER XTV. 



The Erie Caxal. — J.SKi-iy^.j. 

Clintonians and Bucktails. — For .i nnmbor of joars aftor the 
war of 1812 political parties in A'ew York were not divided on 
national questions ; the contests were largely for the otliees. De- 
Witt Clinton was still influential; but his enemies were numerous ; 
and whereas they had once gathered under the lead of Burr and 
later under that of Livingston, they now followed Governor Tomp- 
kins. Tompkins was three times reelected to the ofllee which he 
first received in 1807, and meanwhile had become the bitter politi- 
cal enemy of his early friend, DeWitt Clinton. The governor 
filled his office with credit during the war and l)egan to l)e spoken 
of for the presidency. One of his leading' sui)porters was tht* v<.ung 
and ambitious Martin Van Buren. 

Another ally of the governor was the society of Tannnany. This 
organization, which took the name of a celebrated Iiulian chief, 
was begun at the time of Washington's inauguration jvs a social 
club. Later on it became a political society and often controlled 
the city of New York, the government of the State, and even 
national affairs. Tammany was always arrayed against DeWitt 
Clinton, and in 1812 helped to defeat him for the presidency. 

Clinton's faction of the democratic party included most of the 
old federalists and they were known as t"he Clintonians. The com- 
mon name of the opposition party w^as bucktails, a name given them 
after some of the Tammany men once appeared with deer'^ tails in 
their hats. 

(i3r) 



138 THE ERIE CANAL. [Period IV 

The Elections of 1816 and 1817.— Tompkins' fourth election 
as governor was in 1816, the year of the seventh presidential elec- 
tion. When on the fourth of the next March, Madison should finish 
his second term, the office of president would have been held by 
Virginians for twenty-four out of the twenty-eight years. The 
northern people, especially those of Xew York, felt that they had a 
claim on the presidency, and talked about the ^^ Virginia dynasty." 
The congressmen of the southern States, however, succeeded in 
nominating Monroe, of Virginia. At that time political conven- 
tions for nominating party candidates were unknown and such 
nominations were made by the party's congressmen or by the State 
legislators. 

Virginia and New York were rival States. Virginia had led in 
population from early colonial days ; but since 1776 New York had 
passed from the fifth to the second place among the States and it 
was probable that the census of 1820 would show that it had left 
Virginia behind. 

To compromise matters the office of vice-president was given to 
(xovernor Tompkins ; and so a few days before the fourth of March, 
1817, he resigned the governorship which he had ably held for ten 
years. According to the constitution then, the lieutenant-governor 
did not fill out the term ; but a new election was held at which De- 
Witt Clinton was almost unanimously chosen. 

Abolition of Slavery. — One of the last acts of Governor Tomp- 
kins' ten years* administration was his most illustrious deed. He 
advised and secured the passage of a law ordering the total abolition 
of slavery in New York on and after independence day of 1827. 
The gradual emancipation begun under Governor John Jay had 
reduced the number of slaves one-half ; yet ten thousand human 
beings still remained in servitude within the State ; but the dis- 
grace was to be forever wiped out ten years afterward on the fourth 
of July, 1827. For this act of justice the State is also largely 



Chap. XIV] THE KAKERS OF THE CANAL. 130 

indebted to the society of friends, or Quakers of New York city, 
and to William Jay and Peter Jay, sous of tlie fonnor governor. 

The Erie Canal.— Independence day of the year 1817 is also a 
notable time in the history of the State. On that day In the town 
of Rome, Oneida county, the first sjiadeful of earth was thrown 
up in the digging of the Erie canal. The Erie canal has a history. 

Before Hudson discovered the bay, the Iroquois had seen the 
advantages of New York for internal navigation. The great lakes, 
Lake Champlain, and the many little lakes stretching north and 
south, with the St. Lawrence, Hudson, Mohawk, Genesee and Sus- 
quehanna rivers make a wonderful collection of water routes. To 
the Indians the great harbor was nothing ; to the first white men 
the interior waterways were of little account. Then as the Indians 
left the centre of the State and the white men entered, connection 
between the salt and fresh waters was demanded. 

The Makers of the CanaL — Who first thought of a canal can- 
not be told. In 1724, a hundred years before the Erie canal was 
completed, Cadwallader Golden foresaw such a '^ scene of inland 
navigation as cannot be paralleled in any other part of tlio worhl." 
Various suggestions, for the most part to deepen ami to widen the 
rivers, were made just before the Revolution. 

Washington was interested in a project to connect the At hint ic 
with the great lakes ; he suggested a canal from Lake Erie to the 
Potomac river and Chesapeake bay. While the army was encamped 
at Newburg, he ascended the Mohawk with George Clinton to 
determine whether inland navigation to Lake Ontario were possible. 

The first man to put in definite shape these various projects was 
Oouverneur Morris ; he advised what yet may be realized, — a ship 
canal. About the time of Washington's administration the pr()je<-t 
of a canal seemed to be abandoned for a plan to make the Mohawk 
river navigable. But the short canals around Little Falls, at Ger- 
man Flats and from the Mohawk to Wood creek were costly failures. 



140 
The 



THE ERIE CANAL. 



[Period IV 



project still lacked a man to put life in it, a man to give time 

and energy, to argue and to la- 
- ^ bor, to persuade legislators and 

farmers, to risk popularity and 
scorn fortune, a great man and 
one ready to give his greatness to 
the success of a life's work. Such 
a man was DeWitt Clinton ; to 
liim New York owes the Erie 
canal. As member of the legisla- 
ture and as mayor of Xew York 
city during the first decade of the 
century he gave the best of his 
exertions to persuade the State to 
undertake the work. 




DeWitt Clinton. 



The First Step.— In 1808 the 
route of the canal was surveyed 
by Joseph Geddes, who dug the first salt well m Onondaga county. 
To the joy of the friends of a canal the project was reported practic- 
able. Two years later the legislature appointed a committee to go 
over the route and reckon the cost ; of this committee Gouverneur 
Morris and DeWitt Clinton were members, and Robert K. Living- 
ston and Robert Fulton were afterward added ; they decided against 
the plan of a canal to Lake Ontario, with a short canal around 
Niagara Falls ; and they estimated the expense of the route direct 
to Lake Erie at five million dollars. 

As the canal would be of great value to the western States, the 
United States government was asked to bear the expense ; but for- 
tunately congress did not bring the canal into national politics, but 
left it to New York^s unaided energy. The approaching war of 
1812, while it put a stop to all efforts for a canal, yet made its 



Chap. XIV] THE SECOXD roXSTITT'TIOX. 141 

necessity still more clear. At one time cannon wore dra^'ped to 
Lake Ontario at an expense equal to twice their original cost. 

Opposition.— At the close of the war DcWitt Clinton and others 
again went to work to comhat the inaction of the legislature and 
the prejudice of the people. Objections were many. It was a wild 
scheme ; it could never be done ; it would bankrui)t the State : the 
southern counties would i)ay for what would not benefit them. 

At one time a friend of the canal found a company of German 
farmers along the very route who opposed the attempt. They could 
not understand about the locks ; '' Water cannot run up hill," said 
they. Finally to convince them the man dug a small ditch, made 
a lock of shingles, poured in a 2)ailful of water and locked a chip 
up his little canal. 

In 1817 the friends of the measure triumphed over all obstacles, 
obtained from the legislature a favorable vote, and in the same year 
began the work. Two years of well directed labor completed the 
canal from Rome to Utica. There were still numy who >sere deter- 
mined that the canal should go no farther ; and they carried their 
opposition to the polls in the same year, 1819, when Governor Clin- 
ton's term was ended. There was an exciting contest for governor ; 
Vice-President Tompkins threw^ his influence against the canal and 
accepted a nomination in opposition to DeWitt Clinton. There 
was a small majority for Clinton ; but this majority meant that the 
work must go on and the canal be finished. 

The Second Constitution.— Governor Clinton on beginning 
his second term advised the legislature to call a convention to frame 
a new constitution. The first State constitution, adojjted in ITTT, 
had carried the State government through two wars, and luul been 
the fundamental law for nearly half a century : but its defects were 
many; and the need of something better was strongly felt. The 
convention was called and included among its members Daniel D. 



142 THE ERIE CANAL. [Period lY 

Tompkins, then beginning his second term as vice-president ; Mar- 
tin Van Buren, who had just reached the United States senate in 
his rising career ; Ruf us King, the other senator, the last candidate 
of the federalist party for the presidency ; Chancellor Kent * and 
Ambrose Spencer f of legal fame ; and Stephen Van Rensselaer of 
the ancient family. 

This convention spent two and a half months of the year 1821 at 
their work ; and the next year the people voted to adopt the pro- 
posed constitution. This constitution as afterward amended did 
away with the property qualification of voters and gave the right 
to vote to all men except criminals and lunatics, except also negroes, 
who had to own two hundred and fifty dollars worth of property in 
order to vote. 

Tlie council of revision was abolished and the veto power given to 
the governor ; the council of appointment was done away with ; and 
the most of the town and county officers before appointed were 
made elective by the people. Circuit courts were established and 
the State divided into eight judicial districts. The assembly was 
fixed at one hundred and twenty-eight members and the senate at 
thirty-two ; at which number they have since remained. At that 
time, however, tliere were eight senatorial districts, each district 
sending one senator each year for a term of four years. At the 
same time the term of the governor was shortened to two years ; 
and tlie time of the State election was changed from April to the 
Tuesday following the first Monday of November. Accordingly 
for fifty years thereafter, the November of every even year was the 
time of tlie election of governor, and on the first of the succeeding 
January the governor was inaugurated. 

* Janios Kent, author of rommentarios on American Law, was a celebrated .jurist. He 
became chief justice of New York, his native State, in 1804, and a few years later was ap- 
pointed chancellor. 

t Ambrose Spencer was bom in Connecticut ; he was made chief justice of New York in 
1810. AlthouK'h a brother-in-law of DeWitt Clinton he was for a long time a political 
opponent. 



Chap. XIV] IIULE OF TIIK POLITICIANS. 143 

The Rule of the Politicians.— In 18:2t2, DeWiii Clinion, al- 
though he was still foremost in tlie building of the Erie canal, wan 
growing more unpopular among the politicians ; so he decided not 
to be a candidate for reelection. lie left tlie gubernatorial chair 
to Joseph C. Yates of Schenectady, and gave his time to the com- 
pletion of the canal. 

The politicians were supreme. The year before, they removed 
from office Gideon Hawley, who for eight years had been the able 
superintendent of common schools. They put in his place a young 
lawyer of so little ability, that to cover the blunder the legislature 
did away with the office and put the common schools under the 
secretary of state. 

While this was the ^'^era of good feeling'' of Monroe's adminis- 
tration and the democrats were the only national ])arty, it was in 
New York State a time of bitter personal rivalry. The spoils 
system was there brought to perfection whence it was soon to be 
carried into the politics of the nation. This controlling clique of 
politicians was known as the "Albany liOgency^and wjis under 
the lead of Martin Van Buren and William L. Marcy. 

In opposition to the arrogant rule of this political faction a party 
was growing up in the State under the name of the peoj)k''s party. 
The leaders of this movement advocated the choosing of presiden- 
tial electors by a vote of the people rather than by the legislature, 
and the nomination of party candidates by a convention of dele- 
gates rather than by members of the legislature. This j)arty in 
1824 called the first State nominating convention ever held in New 
York to meet at Utica. 

Before this convention met, in the last hours of the session of 
the legislature, the enemies of DeWitt Clinton rushed through a 
bill removing him from his office of canal commissioner. Thus, as 
they thought, they would completely drive him from j)ublic sight. 
The people were amazed at the spiteful injustice done the mim 



144 THE ERIE CAN^AL. [Period IV 

who Iiad served as president of the canal commission faithfully and 
without pay ; they held indignation meetings all over the State. 
When the people^s party met at the Utica convention, they took up 
the popular cause, nominated Clinton for governor and triumph- 
antly elected him. 

The Canal Finished. — This election was a fitting event ; De- 
Witt Clinton, in whose governorshij^ the Erie canal was begun, 
thus came back into the high office in time to take charge of the 
completion of his life's work. As the summer ot 1825 passed away, 
^^ Clinton's ditch,'' after eight years of building, lacked but a little 
of reaching from Albany to Buffalo. 

The first cost of the work was seven million dollars, a fraction of 
the money expended in later years upon an unsatisfactory State 
capitol. A few years after its completion, the canal was enlarged ; 
and this improvement together with mismanagement and stealing 
swelled the entire cost to over fifty million dollars or to almost 
eight times the original expense. The entire cost of the Erie canal 
has been more than repaid to the State. 

The canal as finally enlarged is three hundred and sixty-three 
miles long and has seventy-two locks ; its width is seventy feet, 
allowing boats of nearly twenty feet in width. Beginning at Albany 
it follows the Hudson to Cohoes, and thence part of the way to 
Schenectady it takes the north bank of the Mohawk ; then it fol- 
lows the windings of the Mohawk on its southern bank to Utica 
whence the long summit level of fifty miles reaches to Syracuse, 
leaving meanwhile the Mohawk at Rome. At Syracuse the Oswego 
canal connects with Lake Ontario ; from Syracuse to Rochester 
many aqueducts are needed to take the canal over rivers and 
the Cayuga marshes. A few miles after crossing the Genesee, the 
longest level of the canal stretches out sixty-five miles to Lockport ; 
where by five locks close together it rises to the thirty mile level 
which extends to Buffalo and Lake Erie. 



Chap. XIV] OPENING OF Tin: ( anal. 145 

For a third of the length the water is fiiriiislied ))}• Lake Krie. 
The rest of the water comes from the Black river canal, Cazcnovia 
lake and the reservoirs on the summit, all flowing: toward Alhanv : 
SO that the flow of the canal, except for a short distance, i.s from 
west to east. 

The Celebration. — The water of Lake Erie entered the great 
ditch at Buffalo on the twenty-sixth day of October. 1825. A vast 
crowd of jubilant people were there ; there were flags, cannon and 
gaily decked boats ; DeWitt Clinton was there. The rushing in 
of the water was telegraphed to New York city. It was before 
Morse invented the telegraph ; but it was done. Cannon liad been 
placed at hearing distances along the towpath and the bank of the 
Hudson to New York city. It was an hour and a half from tlie 
time that the first cannon sounded on the shore of Lake Erie till 
the last gun echoed over New York bay. 

From Buffalo a flotilla of brightly decorated canal boats began 
the first trip to the ocean. The ''Seneca Chief " took the lead, 
carrying Governor Clinton and other noted men. One of tlie other 
boats was ''Noah's Ark/' with a cargo of eagles, bears, Indians 
and similar products of Ohio, Indiana and other States of the wild 
west. Everywhere along the canal, by day and by night, people 
were gathered to cheer the gay procession. Korhester joyfully 
welcomed the fleet at the great stone archway which carries the 
water over the Genesee. Albany was ablaze ; and on the tenth day 
of the trip the ringing of bells and the noise of cannon told tiie 
people of New I'ork city that the steamboats had towed the fleet to 
the mouth of the Hudson. 

From the ships there in waiting came the challengi' t.. tiic 
"Seneca Chief":— "Where are you from and what is your destina- 
tion ?" The reply came back, " From Lake Erie and bound for 
Sandv Hook." 



146 THE EKIE CANAL. [Period IV 

A great number of crafts of all kinds then made out to sea, where 
DeWitt Clinton, taking up a keg of water from Lake Erie, poured 
it into the ocean, thus indicating the uniting of the great lakes with 
the Atlantic ocean. Then on the return of the boats to New York 
city the celebration continued ; processions, illuminations and fire- 
works formed a dazzling spectacle, worthy of doing honor to the 
greatest work of New York State. 

Thus the year 1825 marks an era in the history of the State. It 
was just fifty years since the battle of Lexington and the flight of 
the English governor. For thirty-five years the nation had been 
established under the constitution. The fifteen counties into 
which the State was divided when Washington was inaugurated 
had increased to fifty-six, thus mapping out the State about as it was 
to remain. The population of the State which reached the first mil- 
lion during the war of 1812, was now half way toward another 
million. The census of 1820 had placed the State first in wealth 
and population. The building of the Erie canal gave New York a 
claim to be called then and thereafter the Empire State. 

SUMMARY OF EVENTS, — PERIOD IV. 

1790. The Vermont difficulty settled. 

Congress removed from New York city to Philadelphia. 
1795. John Jay governor. 
1797. Albany made the permanent capital. 
1801. George Clinton again governor. 

1804. Morgan Lewis governor. 
Killing of Hamilton by Burr. 

1805. The beginning of the school fund. 
1807. Daniel D. Tompkins governor. 

First trip of Fulton's steamboat. 
The embargo laid. 



Chap. XIV] SUMMARY OF PERIOD IV. 147 

1812. Madison elected president over DeWitt Clinton. 

War with England; attacks on Sackett's Harbor and 
Ogdensburg repulsed. 

1813. Ogdensburg captured by the English ; Sackett's Harbor 

successfully defended ; Buffalo burned. 
Gideon Hawley superintendent of common schools. 

1814. Battle of Lake Champlain ; close of hostilities iu Now 

York. 

1816. Money voted for beginning the Erie canal. 

1817. DeWitt Clinton governor. 

Abolition of slavery after ten years decreed. 
The Erie canal begun. 
1819. Canal navigation opened between Rome and Utica. 

1821. Meeting of the constitutional convention. 

1822. Adoption of the second constitution of Xew York. 

1823. Joseph C. Yates governor. 

The Champlain canal completed. 
1825. DeWitt Clinton again governor. 
Opening of the Erie canal. 



IP^T^XOJD TT. 



CHAPTER XY. 



Prosperity axd Disaster. — 1826-1846. 

The twenty years following the completion of the Erie canal was 
a time of cliange. Tlie last of the men of the Revolutionary period 
died. July fourth, 1826,, the fiftieth anniversary of the Declara- 
tion of Independence, its writer, Thomas Jefferson, and its bold 
advocate, John Adams, both passed away ; on independence day, 
four years later, Monroe died in the city of New York ; and mean- 
while New Y^'ork's Revolutionary leader, John Jay, expired at a 
great age. 

It was a time of rapidly growing towns, of tlie making of liuge 
fortunes, of railroads begun and of telegraphs dreamed of. Before 
the onward rush of these twenty years the old families of New York 
city and the Hudson valley, whose power had partly survived the 
Revolution, passed completely into history ; new blood flowed 
through the veins of the awakened State. 

DeWitt Clinton was again made governor in the year after the 
opening of tlic Erie canal. He had new projects for tlie welfare of 
the State ; he urged the legishiture to improve the public schools, 
to establish schools to train teachers, to buikl more canals, to make 
a State highway through the southern counties. Toward the close of 
his term in the midst of liis patriotic labors he suddenlv died. After 

(148) 



Chap. XV] THE ELECTIONS OF 1812. 



14D 



a usnal day's work at the capitol, wliile talkin«r with hJH familv. hin 
head dropped forward and he was dead. 

New York has given greater statesmen to tlie nation, but luw 
produced no greater man for the State. His public life excepting 
a few months' service in the United States senate was given to New 
York. As mayor of New York city, as canal commissioner, and a« 
governor he gained a national fame, lie made the Erie canal : but 
he was not a man of one idea ; he was the foremost cliami»i(ni <.f 
the common schools and of the proper treatment of crimimils and 
insane. But this friend of mankind was cold and distant to men 
personally; with his imperious will he would brook no opposition : 
he made enemies in turn of such former friends as I{ol)ert H. Liv- 
ingston, Daniel D. Tompkins and Martin Van Buren. Hut the 
sturdy honesty of his purpose is undoubted ; and the State must 
honor him as it can honor no other. 

The Elections of 1828.— After tlie death of DeWitt Clinton, 
Martin Van Buren was easily the leading man of tlie State ; in the 
same year, 1828, he was elected governor. Tliis was the year of a 
presidential election ; and Van Buren l)ent all his ener^'v to put 
General Jackson in the place of President Adams. 

For the first time in the history of the State tlie j)re8idential 
electors were chosen by the people. The electors, however, at thia 
time were not all on a general State ticket a.s has since been the 
practice ; but each congressional district chose one elector and the 
men thus elected appointed two more electors. In this way it hajv 
pened that sixteen Adams electors were chosen and twenty Jackson 
electors. 

The result in all the States was a large majority for the hero of 
New Orleans. President Jackson called Van Buren to be secretary 
of state ; and thus the office of governor fell to Enos T. Throop. the 
lieutenant-governor. Governor Throop after filling Van Buren'i 



150 PROSPERITY AND DISASTER. [Period V 

term was, in 1830, elected by the people to the office, after a close 
contest with a new party known as the anti-masons. 

The Anti-Masons. — William Morgan of Batavia, Genesee 
county, was a printer and belonged to the society of free-masons. 
In 1826 it became known in the town that he was about to publish 
a book telling the secrets of that order. Suddenly he disappeared ; 
great excitement and a search for the missing man followed. It 
was discovered that Morgan was arrested on a made-up charge and 
put in the Canandaigua jail. On his release he was seized by a 
party of masons and carried gagged and bound in a close carriage to 
Fort Niagara. At this point all trace of the man was lost ; but 
there is little doubt that he was put to death. 

As this story came out exaggerated by wild rumors, there was 
great indignation at the murder of a free man. The excited citi- 
zens instead of bending all their efforts to punish the few men who 
did the deed, directed much of their feeling against the entire 
masonic order. Many of the masons in turn unwisely tried to 
make little of the great crime instead of seeking to bring the crim- 
inals to justice. A violent opposition to the masonic fraternity 
sprang up in western New York. The anti-masons, unable to find 
the murderers of Morgan or to convict those who carried him off, 
determined to punish all masons at the ballot-box ; and in town and 
county elections they succeeded in keeping masons from office. The 
excitement spread ; a convention was called, a party was organized 
for the purpose of driving the masonic order from the State ; and 
a State ticket was nominated which was barely defeated. 

In 1830 the anti-masonic party polled one hundred and twenty 
thousand votes and lacked but eight thousand of electing their can- 
didate for governor ; two years later the party was defeated in a 
similar manner, at a time when the feeling had so spread that a 
presidential candidate was nominated. But the infection died out 
of politics as suddenly as it arose. 



Chap. XV] RISE OF THE whki party. I.')! 

Democrats and Whigs.— Little affected by the ai)pcarance of 
masonry in politics the national democratic party was solid and 
triumphant under the leadership of Martin Van I^urcn ; it gave 
the electors of New York to Jackson at his reelection in 1832, and 
at the same time elected William L. Marcy governor of the State. 
Marcy was again chosen at the next two elections, and so was gov- 
ernor for six years. 

At his second election the opponents of the democratic party 
first united under the name of whigs. Up to this time there had 
been no united opposition to the democrats in national affairs. 
The first whig candidate for governor of New York was William II. 
Seward of Auburn. 

Two years later Martin Van Buren reached the height of his am- 
bition by securing the presidency ; he was therefore the first man 
from New York to be elected president of the United States. 

Prosperity and Hard Times. — Perhaps the success of Van 
Buren in political life was partly due to the prosperity of the times. 
There was rapid progress in the State and in the nation. On the 
banks of the Erie canal, where once was a wilderness, farms, vil- 
lages and cities were appearing. Buffalo, all but two of whose two 
hundred houses had been burned by the English in 1813, was a city; 
Kochester, which at the time of the same war was composed of one 
log house, had fifteen thousand people at the time of Van Buren's 
election to the presidency ; Utica was a newly made city and Syra- 
cuse was a promising village. Farmers received good prices ; 
mechanics were busy ; speculators doubled their money. So it was 
throughout the union ; people began to live beyond their means ; 
credit was easy ; but pay day came at last. 

The panic of 1837 brought the first widespread hard times since 
the days of the embargo. New York city, the commercial .entre, 
first felt the effect ; banks failed ; factories stopped ; overgrown 



152 



PROSPERITY AND DISASTER. 



[Period V 



towns were half deserted. Many States could not pay their debts ; 
New York had not credit enough to borrow a half million dollars 
at six per cent. 

The people blamed the party in power and tlie next year, 1838, 

went over to the whigs in such 
numbers as to elect William H. 
Seward governor. President Van 
Buren lost his hold on Xew York 
and two years later when he was a 
candidate for reelection, he failed 
to get the electors of his own State 
and was defeated by William 
Henry Harrison. At the same 
time Governor Seward was given 
a second term. It was at this 
election of 1840 that mass meet- 
ings and parades w^ere first used 
by the political parties. 

The Anti-Rent RebelHon. 

Martin Van Buren. — Meanwhile trouble within the 

State claimed attention ; eastern Xew York was disturbed. From 
the time of the Dutch patroon system much of the land in the 
eastern counties was held by the families of the original owners, 
who did not sell their farms but leased them at a small rent for a 
long term of years. In time the improvements made the farms 
valuable, and the forgotten rents were demaiulod. The farmers on 
the leased lands were threatened with ruin ; they banded together 
to resist the collection of rents, drove off the sheriffs, and at Graf- 
ton, Rensselaer county, killed one of the officers. In the same year, 
1839, fifteen huiidi-ed anti-renters gathered at Reidsville to resist 
the sheriff and his men. The counties of Albany, Rensselaer, Col- 




Chap. XV] 



THE I'ATHIOT WAR. 



ir)3 



umbia, Delaware, Greene and Seholiarie were partly in a ntato of 
rebellion ; western counties also, where the Holland land company 
owned large tracts, were stirred up to a less extent. 

Governor Seward called out the militia, and secured quu't. Siliuj 
Wright, who succeeded to the office of governor after William C 
Bouck's uneventful term, took hold of the anti-rent trouble with a 
firm hand. Many of the law-breakers were brought to trial and 
sent to prison. 

Sini 'here was some justice on the side of the anti-renters ; they 

^ . . . . ^ liad the sympathy of the people 

■ ;ind uniting with the whigs in 

1S46 they defeated Silas Wright 
;ind elected John Young governor. 
Governor Young pardoned the 
lifty or more prisoners, and tbe 
State constitution adopted the 
same year forbade the leiu<ing of 
kind for long terms, and in other 
ways provided for the gradual 
cure of the evil. 

The Patriot War.— The< oun- 
ties bordering on Cana<la also had 
their excitement during these 
years. Many of the Canadians 
were anxious for independence 
from En<dand and naturally re- 

SiiasWkight. ' ^ , o. T 

ceived much sympathy from their neighbors across the St. U.wrenc^ 
and Niagara rivers. Nearly a thousand zealous men of ^ ew ^ ork 
encamned on Navy island in the Niagara river, about two miles 
above the falls, using the steamboat - Caroline " to bring their pro- 
visions and arms. The English seized this vessel rom its moorings 
on the American side and set it adrift over the falls. 




154 PROSPERITY AND DISASTER. [Period V 

The excitement and feeling against England among the people 
of the border counties were intense ; but Van Buren who was presi- 
dent at the time issued a proclamation of neutrality and sent Gen- 
eral Scott to keep the peace. Along the northern State line from 
Rouse's Point to Cape Vincent the sons of Revolutionary heroes 
were prepared at any time to cross into Canada to help the patriot 
cause ; they stole the arms from the arsenal at Watertown ; and for 
five or six years they made ineffectual raids across the river. 

Highways and Railroads. — The southern tier of counties, 
though somewhat free from the excitement of the anti-mason, anti- 
rent and patriot war troubles, had their own topic of interest. It 
was proposed to build a State road, a macadamised highway, from 
the Hudson river at Catskill, running through Ithaca and Bath to 
Buffalo. DeWitt Clinton had urged this project not only to open 
up these counties, but as due them from the State in turn for taxes 
paid for the Erie canal, — an expense which had largely benefited 
the central counties. The legislature defeated the bill year after 
year, until in 183G to compromise matters it gave three million 
dollars of State money to help the building of the Erie railroad. 

The first railroad in the State and one of the first passenger rail- 
roads in the United States was constructed of wooden rails from 
Albany to Schenectady, a distance of seventeen miles, in 1831. 
Ten years later the Erie railroad was opened from Piermont to 
Goshen. 

Canals.— For a long time the growth of the railroads was not 
such as to lead people to think that they would take the place of 
canals ; and so the State continued to build water ways branching 
north and south from the Erie canal. The Champlain canal, con- 
necting the Hudson and Champlain valleys, was in operation three 
years before the completion of the Erie canal. The Oswego canal 
and the Cayuga and Seneca canal were next constructed. Then 



Chap. XV] N-EW YORK CITY. 



155 



the State grew lavish and dug the Genesee valley, the Chemung 
and Black river canals, at great cost, only to abandon tliem in later 
years when railroads s^Dread their net work over tlie State. 

At first these canals carried passengers as well as fn'i\<:ht ; pjus- 
senger boats or packets, fitted with dining-ruonis and sleeping 
berths and drawn by three or four horses, carried travelers at the 
rate of five miles an hour ; tliough so little dependence was to Ikj 
put on these boats that it was a common saying that canal travel 
was at the rate of "a cent and a half a mile, a mile and a half an 
hour.'' 

The carrying of freight was always tlie great business of the canals. 
Before the Erie canal was open it cost from fifty to one hundred 
dollars to transport a ton from Buffalo to Albany. The first boats 
cut this charge down to less than twenty dollars. In 18:J5 the rate 
fell to about five dollars ; and when in 1882 the State abolished the 
tolls and railroads were competing for the freight, grain was carried 
the length of the Erie canal for a dollar a ton. 

New York City. — During the twenty years following In-.'.") me 
State increased over a million in population, and by 1850 had three 
million inhabitants. Of these, half a million were in New York 
city ; for great as had been the development of the interior, still 
more wonderful was the progress of the city. With nnigieal 
rapidity the great blocks of brick and stone reached northward over 
Manhattan island. In 1845 the limit of continuous buildings 
readied Fourteenth street, where /orty years later was the centre of 
the retail trade. In the lower part of the city, room was made by 
building upward ; blocks of three or four stories were replari'«l by 
those of six and eight floors ; and these in turn gave way to twelve 
and fourteen story buildings. 

Generally throughout the city the old stood aMUi- i<u m,- ,i,>v. 
For lighting, whale oil began to give place to gas in 18v'5, much to 



156 PROSPERITY AND DISASTER. [Period V 

the fear of timid ones wlio were afraid that the island would be 
blown up. Eight years later the horse cars first took the place of 
the lumbering stages. But the gas and horse cars were in turn to 
become old-fashioned in the dawning age of electricity. There was 
even then a certain artist in the city who was busy experimenting 
with electricity and coiling long strips of wire about his room. 
His name was Samuel F. B. Morse, and by 184-1 he had made the 
magnetic telegraph a success.* 

The news whether flashed by electricity or brought by slower 
means was nowhere put in more readable shape than in New York 
city. It was in the 'thirties and 'forties that the press of the 
metropolis took its place in the lead of the newspapers of America. 
William Cullen Bryant was editor of the Evening Post ; Horace 
Greeley, after publishing the Log Cabin in the Harrison campaign 
of 1840, began the Tribune next year ; James Gordon Bennett was 
filling the Herald with news ; the brilliant Henry J. Raymond 
some years later started the Times ; Thurlow Weed, whig and 
anti-mason, was publishing the Albany Evening Journal. The 
common price of a paper was six cents, when the Sun, the first of 
the one-cent papers, was started in 1833 and soon reached the 
unheard of circulation of six thousand a day. The magazine and 
book publishers began to gather at New York city and in time made 
it the literary centre of the continent. 

The city was attracting keen men in every line of business. 
John Jacob Astor, in his day the richest man in America, was mak- 
ing money out of the Alaska fur trade ; Peter Cooper was getting 
rich from the manufacture of glue ; and Alexander T. Stewart was 
the first great merchant prince, imitated later by so many thous- 
and of his countrymen. Wall street and Broadway became the 
goal of every ambitious young man in the country. 

* In this connection it should be remembered that Cyrus W. Field, to whose energy and 
foresijrht the Atlantic cable is due. was a New Yorker. In 1854 he was working at the idea;, 
in 1858 he had laid a cable ; in 1806 he made the submarine telegraph a success. 



Chap. XV] THE CROTOS" AguKDrcT. i:,7 

The city also attracted tlie ignorant and brutal ; it look a part, 
often tlie worst part, of every sliip-load of foreigners. As the rush 
of immigrants increased, the city was in constant (hmgcr from its 
ignorant mass of humanity, Kiots were common ; inohs liehl tlie 
streets. Anti-slavery meetings were broken up by rioters ; during 
the panic, stores were entered for food and clothing; and at the 
great Astor Place riot in 1856 it needed but the petty quarrel of 
some actors to stir the slums of the city to such bloody deeds that 
only volleys of mnsketry from tiie soldiers could scatter the mob. 
The police at these times were nearly ])owerlesa ; neither was it tlu* 
perfection of the police system which changed the riotous New 
York city of before the war to the more orderly place of later years. 
Free public schools, Sunday schools, missions, asylums, hospitals, 
free baths and public parks have done what the law could not 
accomplish. 

There were other checks to the progress of the city beside its 
riotous inhabitants. During one summer the cliolera took pos- 
session of the city, threw the people into a panic and carried off 
three thousand victims. Soon after on a cold December niijht 
thirteen acres of buildings were burned. Both disasters were laid 
to the poor and insufficient supply of water, and hastened the 
building of the Croton aqueduct. 

The lack of water had long been felt. The water from street 
wells and that distributed by a private company was unsatisfactory. 
Forty miles north in Westchester county is the Croton river. In 
1835 the work of bringing this river into the homes and shojis of 
New York city began. A lake was made by means of a great dam. 
From this reservoir the water was received by a granite aqueduct 
of circular shape about eight feet wide and seven feet high. 

Through hills and over streams this huge pipe was built, until 
finally crossing the Harlem river by High l)ridge it reached the dis- 
tributine: reservoir covering]: one hundred and five acres in Central 



158 PROSPERITY AND DISASTER. [Period V 

park. Seven years after thq beginning of this work^ on tiie fourth 
of July, the water was let into the aqueduct, and the event duly cele- 
brated. The Croton aqueduct cost nine million dollars ; but vast 
as was the scale on which it was built, within fifty years it could 
not supply the multiplied population.* 

A companion work of the Croton aqueduct in purifying New 
York city was the Central park, which may be noticed here, though 
it was begun several years later. It was just before the civil war 
that the city bought the land, two and a half miles long and half a 
mile wide, out of which the famous park was made at an expense 
of fifteen million dollars ; as much money as the United States paid 
France for half the land west of the Mississippi. 

A few years before Central park was begun, the city held a 
world's fair in a great building called the Crystal palace. This 
immense house of glass contained a display which educated the 
people and helped the trade and commerce of the city and country. 
The shipping traffic of that port had so increased that two-thirds 
of the foreign trade of the United States was carried on at New 
York city. 

The city as the gateway from the Atlantic was at various times 
called upon to welcome distinguished men to the shores of America. 
Its citizens did honor in 1825 to Lafayette on his visit to the scenes 
of his early struggles ; later they welcomed Dickens and Thackeray 
the novelists, Jenny Lind, the singer, Kossuth the Hungarian 
patriot ; and most royally of all they feasted a citizen of their own 
State, the greatest American man of letters, Washington Irving, on 
his return from the court of Spain. 

♦The first Croton aqueduct supplied 95,000,000 gallons in twenty-four hours, or about 
two hundred gallons for every man, woman and child in the city. When the population 
increased to over a million the water fell short. An atjueduct to the Bronx river in 1884 in- 
creased tlie amount of water to ll.'j.OOO.OOO frallons daily. The sckukI Croton aciueduct was 
befrun in 1 H8rj and finished in 1890. It is built under in-ound. passine: by a tunnel under the 
Harlem river. This a(iu»>(luct increases the supply to 315.000.000 erallons. " Compared with 
other tunnels, this new aciueduct is easily at the head of ail works of a like character in the 
world." See the Century magazine for December. 1889, (Vol. 39). 



CHAPTER XVI. 
The Contest for Free Schools.— 1847-1854. 

At the close of the first half of the nineteenth century New ^'ork 
held the first place among the thirty-one States in population, 
agriculture, manufacture and commerce ; l)ut in education tlic Slate 
did not excel. The history of education in New York up to that 
time was in short this : — The Dutch did something for their schools ; 
the English did less. At the close of tlie Kcvolution there was an 
awakening demand for better schools. In 1T!>5 tlie first State 
appropriation for common schools was made ; and ten years later a 
permanent fund was established. The school system, however, 
dates from 1813, when the office of superintendent of schools was 
created, — an office which after a few years ])cc;nii<' a d.-pait nn-nt 
under the secretary of state. 

DeWitt Clinton was a champion of the school system : he lilled 
his messages to the legislature with pleas for nornuil schools, free 
schools, county superintendents and school libraries. 

The Schools from 1825 to 1846.— In 18'.>5 there were eight 
thousand common schools and nearly half a million pupils. Ten 
years afterward eight jicademies were chosen to instruct teachers' 
classes,— the first effort to provide properly qualified instructors. 
Another experiment, of which much was expected, was buying and 
distributing libraries to the school districts. Although many of the 
books thus sent out were scattered and lost, their good elTect prob- 
ably more than repaid the outlay. 

Of the different secretaries of state, dohn A. Dix was especially 
active in advancing the interests of common schools, and his deputy, 

(159) 



160 THE CONTEST FOR FREE SCHOOLS. [Period V 

Samuel S. Randall^, was a faithful friend of education. In 1841 
tlie ollice of county superintendent of schools was created. These 
superintendents were chosen by the county boards of supervisors; 
and tliis method of election gave a chance for political trickery. 
To remedy tliis defect the office was abolished after a short trial ; 
and for ten years longer there was no school officer between the 
deputy of the state superintendent and the district trustees. In 
185G tlie office of county superintendent was revived under the 
form of school commissioners elected by the people of the commis- 
sioner districts. 

Tlie pressing demand for trained teachers called forth the plan 
of holding teachers' institutes in the different counties of the State, 
and resulted in the establishing of a permanent school for teachers, 
the Albany Normal school. * 

But the State remained without free schools. The separate 
districts could make their own schools free if they wished and some 
of the districts did so ; but the State had no free school system 
com})act and progressive. The common schools were in part sup- 
ported by the fund growing out of the sale of public lands ; but 
the rest of the expense was paid by tuition in the shape of rate bills. 
These rate bills called upon those who sent children to pay accord- 
ing to the number of days they had been in attendance. 

The Third State Constitution. — The advocates of free schools 
hoped to carry their 2)oint in the convention which met in 1846 to 
revise the constitution. The third constitution, which took the 
place of the second after it had been in effect for twenty-five years, 
made but little change in the executive State officers ; it provided 
that senators be elected by separate districts ; it remodeled the 
(;ourts, formed the court of appeals and provided that many judges 
before appointed should be elected by the people ; it forbade long 

*Tlio name of the Albany Normal school, the first of the normal schools of the State, 
was changed In 1890 to the New York State Normal College. 



Chap. XVI] FREE SCHOOLS secuued and lost. 



Uil 



leases of land, the banking moiiopuly,* and incurring of debts by the 
legislature. 

A provision for free schools was included ; but on tlie last day of 
the session of the convention it was thrown out ; and so wlien tlio 
people voted to accept the proposed constitution tliey had no chanco 
to show their opinion on the great question of free scliools. 

Free Schools Secured and Lost.— But the demand of tlic 

times was not to be denied ; the legislature of 1S4II passed a bill 
making all the common schools of the State free. The law declared 
that each district should have suitable buildings, and conduct a school 
for at least four months of the year, open to all residents between 
the ages of five and twenty-one. vSuch a law was in the power of 
the legislature; but in order to test the opinion of the people it was 
submitted to a vote of the State and ratified by a tremendous 
majority. 

The free-school act was put in force so awkwardly that the unusual 
taxes fell unequally upon the people of the State. Those who wore 
satisfied kept still ; tlie dissatisfied made loud complaints. So after 
a year's trial but a small majority of the people stood by the law ; 
and the legislature at its next session weakened before the jx^titions 
of the growling taxpayers, repealed the bill, and brought back the 
system of rate bills. 

Thus the lawmakers of the State continuc(l to accept as goo<l 
reasoning the argument of the childless taxpayer that he ought not 
to educate his neighbors' children, and failed to recognize the fact 
that educated voters alone make a good State, and that every man 

*Up to the time of the panic of 18:37 every bank liad to have a charter fn.m the \vgi^- 
ture and the banking business became a monopoly in the hands of a fuvortMl few. In the 
time of Hamilton's powerthe federalists controlled all the banks «.f the State. Aan.n Butt, 
under the guise of a bill to supply New York city with fresh water. se«ure«l a chart. t for 
the Manhattan bank, an institution still existing. The fortunes of DeWitt (Mnton MifT.-red 
from the connection of his friends with a paying bank mtmopolv. In IHOO then' w.-rc two 
banks in New York city ; the number was increased to thirty in 1S40, and reached one hun- 
dred in 1880. 



1C2 



CON'TEST FOR FREE SCHOOLS. 



[Period V 



who enjoys the benefits of the republic is in duty bound to pay for 
the education of all its citizens. In these days the slavery question 
was crowding out every other subject of importance ; and the State 
was doomed to wait for its free schools until after the civil war. A 
step in advance was taken in 1854, however, when the department 
of education was set off by itself under a superintendent of public 
instruction elected by the legislature for a term of three years, and 
Victor M. Rice was made the first superintendent. 

Governors. — Many of the successors of DeWitt Clinton in the 
governor's chair were active school men. Governor Wright said in 
a message : ''No ^^ublic fund of the State is so unpretending, yet 
so all pervading; so little seen yet so universally felt.... as this 
fund for the support of the common schools.^' 

School Supervision in New York. The governors of NeW York, 

(From auAddressof Hon. AndrewS.Draper.)^f^gj. Reward's administration of 

four years, were changed each term 
for eight successive elections. 
William C. Bouck, Silas Wright, 
John Young, Hamilton Fish, 
AVashington Hunt, Horatio Sey- 
mour, Myron H. Clark, and John 
A. King filled the office from 1843 
to 1859. Silas Wright* was one 
of the ablest of these men; Hora- 
tio Seymour was for numy years 
prominent in public life; and My- 
ron II. Clark is to be remembered 
for receiving his election on a plat- 
form favoring prohibition of the 





By 


By 


By 


By 


Tear 


state 


county 


city 


town 




officer. 


officers. 


officers. 


officers. 


1795. 












1813. 


• 












1841. 














1847. 














1851 
















1856. 
















1890. 















* Silas W^riftht, a native of Massachusetts, filled many important offices in New York, 
and acquired a national reputation in the United States senate. He refused a nomination 
as candidate for the vice-presidency and a position in Polk's cabinet, and died in retirement 
at Canton, 1847. See portrait, page 153. 



Chap. XVI] PROGRESS OF THE PEOPLE. 1G3 

liquor traffic. The sale of li(|uur was in lS5r) aecordinply forbidden; 
but the law was not enforced and was soon rcpeah-d. 

Many of these governors also served in the T'nitcd StateH sfuatc. 
Marcy, Wright, Seward and Fish were in the national senate iH'forc 
the war, and Daniel S. Dickinson, not a governor, was a dis- 
tinguished senator at that time. 

The Progress of the People of the State is suggested by the 
close of the first half of the nineteenth century. The western 
counties, which in 1800 were the great west of the immigrants from 
New England, later sent their own citizens to fill the caravans 
crossing the Mississippi. The stream from New York swelled to a 
torrent in 1849 when gold was discovered in California. Hut the 
population of New York continued to increase ; tbe one million of 
1800 had become four million in 1850. Chemung, Fulton and 
Wyoming counties were organized after 1825 and "little Schuyler," 
in 1854 made the number of counties an even sixty. 

The progress of invention has been so great that the people of 
the latter half of the century know almost as little of the daily life 
of those who lived in the ^twenties and 'thirties as of those who 
lived in the Revolution. The sons do not realize that in tlu' boy- 
hood of their fathers matches were not known, that thirty or forty 
miles was a day's journey, that it cost eighteen cents to send a let- 
ter from one end of the State to the other, that often the result of 
an election was not known until a month after the voting, tha 
watches were hardlv known except among the rich, that .b- >.hool 
houses and the school books were of the rudest kinds. 

There were indications of an improvement in the morals of the 
people. Lotteries were forbidden; imprisonment for debt wa« 
aboLhed; suitable State prisons at Sing Sing and Aubun .e e 
provided ; prisoners were not only punished but taught bo. to 
work ; asylums for the insane, blind, dumb and belplc^-^- .n.....>.d, 



164 CONTEST FOR FREE SCHOOLS. [Period V 

some bnilt by State aid, some by religious societies. The Christian 
church was an increasing power. Many revivals of religion awakened 
deep feeling throughout the State during the fifty years of the 
century. Many of the successors of Everardus Bogardus the first 
minister of Xew York, have been famous preachers, among them 
Henry Ward Beecher, of Brooklyn, and E. H. Chapin of Xew York 
city. 

Peculiar People. — The State seemed to have more than its 
share of people with strange religious and social beliefs. At 
Watervliet (wa-ter-vleet), near Albany, the first communities of 
" Shakers " in the United States under Mother Ann Lee settled, 
and from thence they sent colonies to Columbia and Livingston 
counties. At Palmyra, Wayne county, Joseph Smith lived, w^ho 
pretended to find buried there the book of Mormon ; and from that 
place his followers began their westward march, which ended at 
Salt Lake city. 

In Yates county, on the shores of Seneca and Keuka lakes, 
Jemima Wilkinson, the " Universal Friend," lived in the first frame 
house in western New York, and gathered her followers about her. 
In Low Hampton, Washington county, lived the farmer-preacher, 
William Miller, who taught the speedy coming of the end of the 
world, and in 1843 he and fifty thousand converts waited expec- 
tantly for the second coming of Christ. In Madison county, John 
H. Noyes established in 1847 the Oneida community, for a time 
peculiar in some of its practices, but now a mere business association. 

At North Elba, in Essex county, lived John Brown before the 
border warfare in Kansas and the raid on Harper^s Ferry ; and 
there in the soil of New York his body lies mouldering in the grave 
while his soul goes marching on. 



niAP'i'Ki: XVII, 



New York during the Struggle with Slavkkv. — is.wisog. 

From 1821 to 1854.— About tlie time tlmt slavery wasalmlislu-d 
in Kew York, it becanie tlie leading political topic in national 
politics. Now York protested against the admission of Missouri a« 
a slave State in 1821 ; but while the people of New York generally 
expressed themselves against the admission of more slave territory, 
those who advocated the removal of slavery from the country were 
few and despised. In 1835 six hundred delegates to an anti-slavery 
convention at Utica were driven out of town. 

The increasing friction between the frec^ and slave States wha 
shown five years later, when the governor of ^'i^ginia demanded of 
William H. Seward, governor of New York, three men charged 
with stealing a negro from slavery. ( J overnor Seward refused on 
the ground that slave stealing was not a crime in New York. Some 
years later eight slaves owned in Virginia were set at liberty ifi New 
York city and escaped to Canada. 

The sentiment of the people of New^ York was aLrain.st the admis- 
sion of Texas and against tlie resulting Mexican war waged in 1S46 
and 1847 in the interest of the extension of slavery territory. The 
State also opposed the compromise of li>M) when the fugitive slave 
law was passed, compelling free States to arrest and return escaped 
negroes. This law brought on the contest ; States could not be 
joined under one flag, while slavery was allowed by some common- 
wealths and was a crime in others. 

Slavery in Politics.— By this time questions of State interest, 
which since 1815 had taken the attention of i)olitical i)arties, gave 

(n;5) 



166 



THE STRUGGLE WITH SLAVERY. 



[Period V 



way to the great national slavery agitation. The whig party, 
not daring to take sides, died out ; tlie republican party, opposed 
to the extension of slavery, was born. The first presidential 
candidate of that jiarty, John C. Fremont, received the electoral 
votes of Xew York, but was defeated by the democratic nominee, 
James Buchanan. 

At the same election John A. King, a republican, was chosen 
governor; he after one term gave way to Edwin I). Morgan of the 
same party, wlio afterward earned the title of the war governor of 
New York. The different State elections in the year of Morgan's 
first election, 1858, foretold the triumph of the new party in the 
coming national election of 18G0. 

In the exciting canvass of that year William II. Seward was the 

most prominent man of his i)arty 
and was supported by the dele- 
gates from his State at the repub- 
^ lican national convention. Sew- 

^^t/KtL Ui*^^ however, was set aside, large- 

^^^^ % ty through the efforts of Horace 

^H^pm^^w J Crreeley, editor of the Kew York 

rlVl I Tribune, and Abraham Lincoln 

of Illinois was nominated for ^ires- 
ilent. The admirers of the great 
; anti-slavery statesman of Xew 
York were keenly disappointed ; 
but they heartily helped to elect 
Lincoln and viewed with pride 
the illustrious services of William 
11. Seward as secretary of state 
Wii.uAM II. sewakd. during the perilous civil war. 

New York Responds to the CalL— The election of Abraham 
Lincoln was the signal for tlie \o\\^ threatened rebellion of the 




Chap. X\'ri] NEW YORK RESPONDS TO THK CALL. Vu 

south ; South Carolina led ofT. The New York Ifgislaturu prompt- 
ly otfered the national govenment money and men to aid in forcing 
South Carolina to remain in the union. But this was in the first 
weeks of 18G1 ; Bucluinan was still president and made no effort 

to put down tlie rising rebellion. 

In New York city and throughout the State there were long 
petitions and large mass meetings calling for peace at any price ; 
and there were other petitions and mass meetings demanding the 
preservation of the union at all hazards. It was j)lain that New 
York city, through which passed two-thirds of the revenue of the 
United States, would suffer most from war ; to the citizens of that 
city peace meant plenty, war threatened bankru})tcv. 

The ignorant masses of tlie poorer streets could he relied uj)on to 
favor slavery ; the mayor himself had the effrontery to propose that 
the metropolis secede from the State and nation and become a 
free city. Thus the southern States came to look to New York for 
help as the English had done a hundred years before. 

In this the slave power was disappointed. When Sumter fell the 
loyal city and State awoke. When Lincoln shortly after his inaugur- 
ation called for seventy-five thousand soldiers, New York, whose 
share was thirteen thousand, sent thirty thousand troops. On the 
nineteenth of April, the anniversary of the battle of Lexin<jton. 
the famous seventh regiment marched down Broailway to the cheers 
of loyal thousands. 

Soon in that eventful first year of civil strife the news of ilie 
defeat at Bull Run came ; then the State seemed of one mind ; 
thousands poured into the recruiting stations at New York city and 
Elmira; old men and boys concealed their ages that tliey might 
enlist ; town and State authorities added to the pay given by the 
government ; the mothers and sisters gathered in bands and socie- 
ties to make the comforts of home for the field an<l hosi)ital : the 



168 THE STRUGGLE WITH SLAVERY. .[Period V 

state loaned and gave money to the national government by the 
million ; the stars and stripes suddenly blossomed out from house- 
top, window and pole. By the end of the year 18G1 New York had 
sent one hundred and twenty thousand men into the field, one out 
of every six of the able-bodied men of the State. At the close of 
the campaign of 1862 there were two hundred and fifty thousand 
of her men on the field scattered over nine different States of the 
south. 

Reverses. — But a reaction set in. In the great plenty of sup- 
plies there were ' waste, stealing and mismanagement. The demo- 
cratic party criticised the way in which the war was carried on, 
and in the fall of 1862 they elected as governor, Horatio Seymour, 
who ten years before had held the same office. Governor Seymour, 
while he believed that the war could be ended, was loyal to the 
preservation of the union. 

The result of the second year of the war was not reassuring to the 
north. Some 2)rogress was made in the Mississippi valley ; but 
McClellan in the peninsular campaign failed to take Richmond and 
exposed "Washington to danger. 

The gloom deepened as 1863 began. The defeats of the northern 
army at Fredericksburg and Chancellors ville left the north open to 
the victorious army of Lee. The anti-war party of New York grew 
strong ; recruits were no longer plentiful ; and when a draft was 
ordered, angry mutterings filled the air. New York city was the 
centre of the disturbance. There on the fourth of July the oppo- 
nents of the war held a mass meeting. They denounced the presi- 
dent and the generals ; they declared the war a failure. On that 
day Vicksburg surrendered, the Mississippi Avas opened to the gun- 
boats of the north, and Lee was hurrying south from his defeat at 
Gettysburg. 

The Draft Riot of 1863.— A few days later the draft began in 
New York city, and all the i)ent-up wrath of the southern sympa- 



Chap. XVII] THE DRAFT RIOT. 169 

thizers broke forth. Tlie mob swept over the city like lire, burning, 
plundering and murdering. The negroes were the enpeeial victinig ; 
many of them were killed ; an orphan asylum for negroes wa« 
burned. For three days the rioters held the city ; traffic stopped : 
stores were closed; houses were barricaded ; the police wen* j)owcr- 
less, and no soldiers were at hand. 

When at length order was restored, one thousiuid jursuns Inul 
been killed and wounded and two million dollars worth of j)roperty 
destroyed. The draft was then resumed under the protection of 
troops. The next year a band of men was discovered pre])arin^ 
to set fire to the principal hotels and public buildings of the city ; 
this was probably part of a plot to burn and jilundcr the large 
cities of the north. 

The End and the Result. — The victories of 18G4 promised 
peace ; but a battle at the ballot-boxes remained to be fought in 
New York and in other loyal States. The republican party wnfi 
Yictorious ; Lincoln received the votes of nearly all the northrrn 
States ; and Keuben E. Fenton was elected governor of New York. 

When the war closed in the spring of 18G5, New York had fur- 
nished to the union within a few thousand of one half-million 
soldiers, or about one-fifth of the number of men who entered the 
federal army. By the end of that year nearly all the surviving 
soldiers were again at work on their farms, in the shojis and the 
stores. 

But the terrible loss of war was everywhere felt. Tlu- death of 
Lincoln, the broken families, the bitter feeling arising from i-artj 
strife were all a part of the price paid for the union. The cent^us 
of 1865 showed, for the first time in any five years in tlu^ history of 
the State> a decrease in the population, amounting to fifty thousand 
people. 

The fifteenth amendment to the constitution of the I'nited 
States gave to the negro the right to vote, and thus embodied the 



170 



THE STRUGGLE WITH SLAVERY. 



[Period V 



result of the war ; it was ratified by the legislature of New York in 
1869. The State had never removed the property qualification of 
two hundred and fifty dollars imposed upon the negroes in 1822. 
At different times before the war the people voted down the propo- 
sition to repeal this law, and even after the war they again decided 
against the repeal, so that the negro in New York gained his 
equal rights by the constitution of the general government and not 
by the act of the citizens of the State. 

In the presidential election of 1868 another distinguished citizen 

of New York, Horatio Seymour, was 
the candidate of the democratic party, 
and though defeated by General Grant 
he received the electoral vote of his own 
State, — an acknowledgment of his long 
and faithful public services. At the 
same time John T. Hoifman was chos- 
en governor to succeed Reuben E. Fen- 
ton who was fillinsj his second term. 

Education. — The year 1867 marks 
Horatio Seymouu. the throwing opcn of all the common 

schools of the State ; thus did New York tardily make its public 
schools free. The Albany normal school, and the Oswego normal 
school, which was begun in war times, were made free, and six 
other normal schools were soon after organized. 

Cornell university was founded at the same time largely by State 
aid. This school, though one of the youngest colleges of the State, 
was destined soon to outstrip the older schools in number of stu- 
dents and in wealth. 

The regents of the university adopted a plan of examinations to 
be held in the higher schools of the State, and have since dis- 




Chap. XVII] EDUCATION. 171 

tributed the money in their charge according to the number of 
pupils in each institution who have passed them successfully. The 
result has been an increase in the number of schools between the 
district schools and colleges until nearly every village of the State 
has its academy or academic department of a union school. 



CHAPTER XVIIT. 



The Era of Centexxials.— 1870-1889. 

The twenty-five years following the civil war include the end of 
the first one hundred years of the life of the State. Tlie true his- 
tory of this i:)eriod cannot be told in the nineteenth century. 

Parties and Elections. — In political matters the State has 
been a pendulum, now swinging to the democratic and now to the 
republican side. The majority at each vote for president has alter- 
nated from one party to the other since 1864. The legislatures 
have for the most part been republican ; the governor during six- 
teen years of the time has been a democrat. 

Governor Iloffman was reelected in 1870 ; but two years later the 
republicans made John A. Dix governor. General Dix held im- 
portant State offices before the war and as secretary of the treasury 
under Buchanan sent to New Orleans the famous dispatch, — '^If 
any man dares to haul down the American flag, shoot him on 
the spot." Large as was his majority for governor, the vote was as 
decidedly the other way two years later, wlien he was defeated by 
Samuel J. Tilden. 

In the centennial year when Tilden was a candidate for presi- 
dent, Lucius Kobinson, also of the democratic party, was elected 
governor. At this time the term of office was again made three 
years. At the end of Robinson's administration a division in the 
democratic party gave the office to Alonzo B. Cornell, the repub- 
lican candidate. But when the next election came, in 1882, a 
greater division in the republican party gave Grover Cleveland a 

(172) 



€hap. XVIII] PARTIES AND KLKCTIONS. 173 

majority of nearly two hundred tlioiusand, the largest ever ^'iven a 
governor of the State. This olUco proved to Cleveland tlio step- 
ping-stone to the presidency, and David li. Hill, the lieutenant- 
governor, served the last year of Cleveland's term and twice after 
was elected to the same position. 

At every presidential election during the quarter-century follow- 
ing the wai at least one of the candidates of the two leading parties 
for president or vice-president has been from ^l'ew York ; at live of 
the six elections the candidate of the democratic party for president 
has been from New York ; and the three republicjin vice-presidents 
elected since Grant's administration were from this State. 

In 1872 Horace Greeley was defeated by General Grant, and died 
a few days later. At the election of 1S7G Tilden, fresh from his 
triumphs over the Tweed ring and the canal ring, was declared by 
an electoral commission to be defeated. 

William A. Wheeler, of New York, was vice-president under 
Hayes; he was succeeded as presiding officer of the senate by Chester 
A. Arthur, of the same State. In the senate the two most notable 
representatives of New York after the war were Roscoo Conkling 
and William M. Evarts. By the assassination of Garfield, Arthur 
became president ; and he was succeeded on the fourth of Man-h. 
1885, by Grover Cleveland, the fourth president and second olec-ted 
to that office from New York. 

During these twenty-five years the greenbat-k party and various 
labor parties drew off many voters from the democrats and repul)li- 
cans for short periods. The prohibition party also controlled a 
small but increasing band of voters and kept the temperance ques- 
tion prominent in politics. 

The Tweed Ring.— The State after the war became more than 
ever the centre of the political strife of tiie nation. Fraud, corrup- 
tion and waste of the people's money were attending evils. In 1.S71 
the country was astounded by the exposure of the Tweed frauds. 



174 THE ERA OF CENTEiTiTiALS. [Period V 

William H. Tweed secured control of the government of New York 
city. With the help of the mayor of the city and other shrewd 
officials he obtained large sums for work never done and in a short 
time plundered the city of about twenty million dollars. 

By chance the evidence of his guilt was thrown in the way of the 
New York Times. Exposure followed. But the Tweed ring held 
all the offices, controlled the courts and defied conviction. The 
press of the city stirred up the people ; the wrath of a deceived 
people crushed the ring. 

Tweed was arrested ; he escaped from jail and was afterward 
caught in Spain. He finally died while awaiting trial, within ten 
years after he had dictated the laws and elections of the city and 
State. 

Following the disclosure of the Tweed frauds came the panic of 
1873, the third time of financial distress and ruin within the century. 
As before, the business of New York city first felt the shock. 

New York City. — The growth of the metropolis was hardly 
checked ; the population was one and a quarter million in 1880 and 
still continued to increase rapidly toward the second million. 

The stages and horse cars became utterly unable to carry the 
people back and forth, and the elevated railroads were opened in 
1878 after much opposition. These fast trains gave new life to the 
upper part of the city, and yet within a dozen years they could not 
comfortably carry the increasing throngs and satisfy the demand for 
rapid transit. The stream of business men crossing East river to 
lower Manhattan island also had to be provided for, and the Brook- 
lyn bridge, the largest suspension bridge in the world, was begun in 
1870 and finished thirteen years later. 

Scarcely less imposing than this bridge to the traveler entering 
the bay is the statue of Liberty, tliegift of France, which, torch in 
hand, was set in 188G to light the harbor of New York. 



Chap. XVIII] LEssoxs from tiik CEXsrs. i;o 

Wonders of Art and of Nature.— Up the river at Pou^hkeep- 
sie another great bridge was stretched aeross the lludt^oii, over 
which the coal of Pennsylvania goes to feed the lires of New Vug- 
land. At Albany the corner-stone of one of the most costly build- 
ings in the world, the State capitol, was laid in 1871. The 
immense pile consumed twenty million dollars and still unfinished 
was occupied by the offices of the State government. It-- '- •■ ». <■'■! 
elegance tells the story of many disgraceful deeds. 

New York did a notable act when it freed its great natural won- 
der, the Niagara Falls, from the money-getters surrounding it, and 
made a public park of the land on the eastern side. In a like s})irit 
of improvement the legislature went tardily to work to make a 
State park in the Adirondacks, to preserve the forests and to con- 
trol the sources of the Hudson. 

As the State grew older the beauty of its scenery was appreciated 
and increasing streams of sight-seers viewed the Palisades, the falls 
of the Genesee at Portage, the West Canada creek at Trenton falls, 
the Thousand Islands, the many inland lakes, the Catskills, the 
Adirondacks, the Watkins Glen. 

The summer resorts of the State have become famous : the sea 
beaches of Long Island are filled ; the summer schools and meetings 
at Chautauqua are thronged ; mineral waters are sought at Clifton 
and at Richfield ; and about the springs to which the Indians car- 
ried Sir William Johnson, the village of Saratoga Springs with iU 
thirteen thousand people has sprung up. 

Lessons from the Census.— The census of 1880, taken at the be- 
ginning of the second century of the State, supplies tigures to esti- 
mate its progress among the commonwealths of the union. For 
sixty years the State had held the first place in population and had 
then five million inhabitants. While New York in extent of terri- 
tory was not quite one-sixtieth of the United States, it had one- 
tenth of the population, one-half of whom lived in the twenty-fiTe 



176 THE ERA OF CENTENNIALS. [Period V 

cities.* There were then but about twelve nations of the world 
with a population greater than that of Kew York. 

More than two-thirds of the foreign traffic of the nation enters 
the harbor of the State, while in shipping and ship-owning New 
York represents from one-fourth to one-third of the total values of 
the United States. Its harbors, its bordering hikes, its large rivers, 
and its canals costing up to 1880 a round hundred million dollars, 
give to the State the rank which the same territory had among the 
Indians, and promise the primacy of New York among the States 
during the twentieth century. 

Another well developed resource of tlie State is its fertile soil. 
In 1880 one-half of the land was under cultivation. The products 
were as varied as they were vast. In grain it ranked among the 
first States ; it raised one-seventh of the hay and one-fifth of the 
potatoes of the United States. Its hop area, centering m Madison 
and Oneida counties, produced four-fifths of the nation^s crop. 
The vine-covered banks of the Hudson and of the central lakes 
yielded a considerable grape crop ; while its orchards and gardens 
from the flats of the Genesee to the Hudson valley produced no less 
abundance of other fruits. 

In butter and cheese making the State was far in advance of any 
other ; in fact so diversified has become the product of the soil that 
the failure of one crop can have but little effect upon the produc- 
tions of the entire State. 

Another source of wealtli is manufacturing ; in this New York 
again leads the union ; it liad invested in 1880 from one-sixth to 
one-fifth of all the money employed in manufacturing in the 
United States. The manufactures are as varied as the crops. In 
agricultural implements, in ready-made clothing, in foundry pro- 
ducts, furniture, pianos, jewelry, books, soap, refined sugar, and in 



* The number of cities in 1890 was thirty-two. 



Chap. XVIII] SCHOOLS. I77 

a long list of other articles tlie State makes from one-sixth to more 
than a half of the entire national product. 

These industries are not confined to New Yoriv city, l)iit am 
spread over the State ; in Onondaga county salt is produced by the 
government ; in Fulton county gloves and mittens are made ; in 
Rensselaer, shirts and furnishing goods for men ; j)aper in Saratoga 
and Jefferson counties ; farming implements in Cayuga ; hoer in 
Kings ; cotton and woolen goods in AIl)any and Oneida ; leather in 
Cattaraugus; butter and cheese in many counties, led by On. i. la, 
Herkimer, St. Lawrence, Delaware and Cattaraugus. 

Schools. — New York has done much in later years to make its 
system of education a model ; though it was slow to feel the need 
of free schools, progress since the free school act has been rapid. 
The three colleges of the first years of the century had increased to 
twenty -seven in 1880, three of which were exclusively for women. 
The eight academies of 1800 had become nearly three hundred in 
number under the care of the regents of the university, including 
high schools and academic departments of union schools. 

But the hope and glory of the State must rest in its common 
schools; beyond these the mass of the people never go. In 1S80 
there were eleven thousand school districts ; and ten years later the 
expenditure for common schools was nearly twenty million dollars. 
The normal schools for the training of teachers were increasing and 
in 1890 had reached the number of eleven. 

The money given in these years to educational purposes may have 
been sometimes unwisely distributed ; but compared with other 
public outlays the school money has been well expended and has pro- 
duced good results. A uniform system of examining and licensing 
teachers has been secured by Superintendent Andrew S. Draper, and 
has proved helpful to the cause of good schools : an unenforce<l 
compulsory education law has been passed,— a promise of a more 
efficient act to come. 



178 THE ERA OF CEiTTENNiALS. [Period V 

At the End of a Century. — The people of New York have 
also advanced in a knowledge of the history of their State ; books 
and magazines devoted to this branch of history have appeared, and 
there has been a growing appreciation of the great part which the 
colony and State played in the progress of America. 

A patriotic love for the scenes of Revolutionary events and the 
memory of the early heroes have been fostered by centennial cele- 
brations. The State was represented at the world's fair at Phila- 
delphia in 1876, which commemorated the close of the first hundred 
years of independence. Other celebrations marked the centennial 
anniversaries of the struggle at Oriskany, at Saratoga, at Elmira and 
at Cherry Valley. 

And finally at New York city, where Washington became presi- 
dent, the greatest celebration of all, April 30, 1889, did honor to 
the centennary of the birth of the constitution, — that strong bond 
of union, to make which New York gave up more than any other 
State, and from which it gained that advancement which makes it 
indeed the Empire State. 

SUMMARY OF EVENTS, — PERIOD V. 

1826. Abduction of Morgan. 

1828. Death of DeWitt Clinton. 

1829. Martin Van Buren governor. 
Enos T. Throop governor. 

1831. First railroad in the State from Albany to Schenectady, 

1832. Great cholera year in New York city. 

1833. William L. Marcy governor. 

1836. Martin Van Buren elected president. 

1837. Financial panic. 
Outbreak of the Patriot war. 

1839. AVilliam II. Seward governor. 
Anti-rent trouble. 



Chap. XVIII] SUMMARY OF I'KUIOD V. 179 

1841. Erie railroad open to Goshen. 

1842. Croton aqueduct completed. 

1843. William C. Bouck governor. 

1845. Silas Wright governor. 
Great fire in New York city. 

1846. Third State constitution adopted. 

1847. John Young governor. 
1849. Hamilton Fish governor. 

Free school law passed ; (repealed, 1851). 
1851. Washington Hunt governor. 
1853. Horatio Seymour governor. 
1855. Myron H. Clark governor. 

Prohibition law passed. 
1857. John A. King governor. 
1859. Edwin D. Morgan governor. 

1861. Beginning of the civil war ; 120,000 troops sent by Now 

York. 

1862. The enlarged Erie canal completed. 

1863. Horatio Seymour again governor. 
Draft riots in New York city. 

1865. Reuben E. Fenton governor. 

End of the civil war. 
1867. The common schools of the State made free. 
1869. John T. Hoffman governor. 

Fifteenth amendment to the constitution of tliolniu-d 
States ratified by New York. 
1871. The corner stone of the capitol at Albany laid. 

Exposure of the Tweed frauds. 
1873. John A. Dix governor. 



180 THE ERA OF CENTENNIALS. [PeHod V 

1875. Samuel J. Tilden governor. 

1877. Lucius Robinson governor. 

1880. Alonzo B. Cornell governor. 

1883. Grover Cleveland governor. 
Brooklyn bridge completed. 

1884. Grover Cleveland elected president. 

1885. David B. Hill governor. 

A State park made at ^'iagara Falls. 

1886. Statue of liberty erected on Bedloe island. 

1888. Great snow storm in Kew York city. 

1889. Centennial celebration of Washington's inauguration. 



APPENDIX. 



QUESTIONS. 



(The following questions on the text of this vulume liave been prepared for thoee teftob> 
ers and pupils who may wish to make use of them.) 



CHAPTER I. 

1. Who is called the discoverer of New York? 

2. Has any one else a claim to this title? 

3. Name the five tribes of the Iroquois. 

4. In what ways were they superior to other Indians? 

5. Why had they chosen New York for their home? 

6. What Indian tribes occupied tlie uortliern and eastern jiarts? 

7. Of what foreign powder did they implore aid and for what purpoee? 

8. Describe Champlain's expedition in 1609. 

9. What was the result of his victory? 

10. Name and give the extent of the five periods in th«> liistory of New York 



State. 



PERIOD I 



CHAPTKK II. 



1. Give the date of Hudson's discovery of New York bay. 

2. Of what nationality was he and in whose service? 

3. To what country was he bound? What did he think the Hudson river 
might be? 

4. About how far up the river did lie sail? 

5. Describe liis deatli. 



182 HISTORY OF THE EMPIRE STATE. 

6. What two European nations besides the Spanish had colonies in America? 

7. Where were these and in w^hat condition? 

8. What year is given as the date of the settlement of New York? 

9. What was the object of the Dutch who first came to New York? 

10. Why were Cape May and Block Island so called? 

11. What are the modern names of the South, the Fresh, and the North 
rivers? 

12. What name did the Dutch give their possessions in America? 

13. How much land did they claim and how did they afterward modify this 
claim? 

14. Who were the first Europeans to make New Netherland their home and 
where did they settle? 

15. What company controlled New Netherland and what powers did it have? 

16. Describe the patroon system of settlement. 

17. Who was the first governor and when did he begin to rule? 

18. Who appointed the other officers of the colony? 

19. Name the three other governors under Dutch rule and give some char- 
acteristics of their rule. 

20. Describe the manner in which the Dutch treated the Indians. 

21. How did the first serious trouble with them arise? 

22. Describe the Indian war. 

23. What parts of the State were settled at the time of Minuet's adminis- 
tration? 

24. From what countries of Europe did the settlers come? 

25. Why did the people come from New England to New Netherland? 

26. When were slaves first brought in? 

27. Who was the last of the Dutch governors and how did he compare with 
the others? 

28. Name the four difficulties confronting him? Which was the most serious? 

29. Describe the Swede settlement on Delaware Bay. 

30. How did Stuyvesant's treatment of the Indians differ from Kieft's? 
81. What had the English done in Connecticut before Stuyvesant arrived? 

32. What agreement did they make with him? 

33. Give an illustration of the contempt of the English for the Dutch. 

34. How did tlie condition of the people of Netherland compare with that of 
the people of New England? 

35. What effect did the knowledge of this difference have on the Dutch 
settlers? 



QUESTIONS. 183 

86. What was the first representative l)o<ly of the proplc ()f the Rtato called 
and under whose rule did it first meet? How much nul power did it huv.-? 
37. Describe tlie surrender to the English. 
88. Where did Stuyvesant afterwards live and die? 



CHAPTER HI. 

1. What position did Holland hold among tho European powers nt this time? 

2. What were the claims of the Dutch to New York? Of the English? 

3. Why did the Dutch lose New York? 

4 Tell what you am of David Pictersen de Vries and Arendt Van Curler. 

5. What minister was prominent as a champion of tlie people? 

6. Give the general characteristics of the common people. 

7. Describe some of the punishments used. 

8. Describe the Dutch houses. 

9. Tell something of the life of the people. 

10. Describe the dress of the men and women. 

11. What was the government religion? 

12. Name other denominations found in the colony. 
18. Who was the first minister? 

14. Tell something of the pay and position of the ministers. 

15. Tell about the first schoolmaster and his duties. 

16. What provision was made for education ? 

17. Name some modem customs which were derived ftom the Dutch. 

18. What else have we obtained from them? 



PERIOD II. 



CHAPTER IV. 

1. Where did the Puritans at first wish to land? 

2. What title had the Duke of Y^ork to New NetherlaiMl? 
8. What means did he take to secure it ? 

4. Did the English drive out the Dutdi? 

6. What changes were made in the names of places and of officers! 



184 HISTORY OF THE EMPIRE STATE. 

6. Did the colonists have the same rights under Englisli rule that the New 
England colonies possessed? 

7. Who was the first English governor? 

8. How did his power compare with that of the Dutch governors? 

9. What characteristic did he have which they lacked. 

10. What difficulties did he meet? 

11. How was the boundary between Connecticut and New York settled? 

12. What was done with what are now the States of New Jersey ajid 
Delaware ? 

13. What became of Nichols? 

14. Who took his place, and how was he regarded? 

15. How were the Indians treated by the first English governors? 

16. Tell something of the condition of the colony under Lovelace. 

17. What led the Dutch to make an attack on New York city? 

18. Did the Dutch residents help defend the city? 

19. In what ways had the rule of the English disappointed them? 

20. Who was in command of the Dutch fleet? Of the city? 
31. Describe the attack. 

22. Why was the capture by the Dutch fairer than that by the English nine 
years before? 

23. Who was put in command of the colony? 

24. Why did the Dutch give New York back to the English? 

25. Who was the next governor, and how did lie show his activity? 

26. What was the population of the colony at this time? Of New York 
city? 

27. What act had built up this city at the expense of the others? 

28. Give a description of the city. 

29. Tell something of Long Island and Brooklyn. 

30. How did their education compare with what it had been under Dutck 
rule? 

31. Tell something of their punishments. 

32. What was generally used for money ? 

33. What were the chief exports? 

34. What were the duties on imports? 

35. Why was Andros recalled and who succeeded him? 

36. How did Dongan compare with former governors? 

37. What was his first act? 

38. Wliat was the date of the first charter of New York, and what were itfl 
chief provisions? 



QUESTIONS. 1^5 

39. What did the Duke rtHiuirc of tlu- asscmhly in return for this «hartrr? 

40. How did he keep his pledge witii them? 

41. What union of colonies was formed? 

42. Who was sent as governor of the colonies, and who ns lii-uirnant p.vrr 
nor of New York? 

43. What two parties were growing up in the colony? 

41 What change took place in England at this time, and liow did thi^ aff«-<t 
the colonists? 

45. Who assumed the duties of governor and liow did hr <<mu- to do mi? 

46. Tell something of his administration. 

47. What governor was appointed by the new king? 

48. What led to the arrest of Leisler, and how was his death wiurant 
obtained ? 

49. Give an account of his death. 

50. How was he afterwards regarded ? 



CHAPTER V. 

1. What was the disputed territory between New France and New York? 

2. What claim had each to this? 

3. Give an account of Isaac Jogues and La Moyne. 

4. Tell somethmg of the condition of the Iroquois. 

5. What progress did the Jesuits make? 

6. Describe the French invasion of New York. 

7. Why did the French covet the Hudson Valley? 

8. What expedition did they make into Western New York? 

9. What fort did they build and with what result? 

10. Tell what you can of Count Frontenac. 

11. Give an account of the burning of Schenectady. 

12. Mention other raids of the French in tlu; following years. 

13. Who was the most notable leader of New York forces, and whjit did In- do? 

14. What was done in Queen Anne's War? 

15. What were the strong and the weak points of the Fn-nch and Kngli«h »8 
shown in these wars? 



CHAPTER VI. 
1. What names were given to the two political parties in Nrw York, itud 
why? 



186 HISTORY OF THE EMPIRE STATE. 

3. Tell something of Fletcher. 

3. Give an account of the trouble with the pirates. Who was Captain Kidd? 

4. Who followed Fletcher, and which party did he favor? 

5. How was the assembly chosen at this time and of how many did it con- 
sist? 

6. Who came as governor after Bellomont's death and liow did he compare 
with Bellomont? 

7. How did the dispute between the people and tlie government of England 
arise? 

8. What power did the assembly hold over the governors? 

9. Tell about the salary of the governors. 

10. Name the foui* leading men of the colony. 

11. Illustrate the way in which Cornbury made himself disliked. 
13. Who is the next governor mentioned? 

13. Give the popidation of the colony during the eighteenth century, 

14. What parts were settled? 

15. Give an account of the the colonization scheme of Governor Hunter. 

16. What advantage did the English have over the French in the trade with 
the Indians? 

17. What governor followed Hunter and what can you say of him? 

18. What steps did he take to defeat the attempts of the French? 

19. How was he hindered and in what ways did he become impopular? 

30. Give some account of Governor Cosby. 

31. Tell about the first printing press and the newspaper published in the 
colony. 

33. What was the cause of starting an opposition paper? 

33. On what charge was Zeuger arrestetl? 

34. Give an account of his trial. 

35. Name an important result of the verdict of this trial. 

36. Who became acting governor after Cosby 's death? 

37. What did the assembly say to him? 

38. How did he and other governors become wealthy? 

39. About how many negroes were there in New York city? 

30. What charge had been made against the negroes years before? 

31. Give an account of the Negro Plot of 1741. 
33. Were any white persons implicated? 

33. Who succeeded Clarke? 

34. What did the assembly refuse him and what did they demand? 



QUESTIONS. 187 

CHAPTER VII. 

1. Give some account of King George's wur. 

2. Why were not the advance posts of New York U'tu-r pnjtcitinl? 

3. How did the French break the treaty made after tliis war? 

4. Why was the Albany convention called ? 

5. WTiat colonies were represented? 

6. Wliat proposal was made by Benjamin Franklin? 

7. In what year did the French and Indian war begin? 

8. Tell what you can of the cause of this war? 

9. Give an account of Shirley's Expedition. 

10. Name the two forts held by each side in north-eastern X«-w York. 

11. What was the one victory of the English in IT.m? 

12. What new leader was sent to the French the next year and wliat did he do? 

13. How did this affect the Iroquois? 

14. How were the soldiers of the colony regarded by the English tn)<)i>8? 

15. Describe the surrender of Fort William Henry. 

16. How was the following winter spent? 

17. Give an account of Abercrombie's attack on Fort Tieonderoga. 

18. How was Fort Frontenac taken and with wliat result? 

19. What general was sent out by the English and what fortn.ss did he 
capture? 

20. How was the war finished? 

21. What was the result of the war? 

22. In what ways had it helped the colonists? 

23. Name some of the cities which grew up around forts. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

1 Name the counties of Long Island. 

2. How did the settlers of the eastern part of the ishmd .IKT.t from th<>.« in 
the rest of the colony? t i i* 

3. What can you say of the settlement of the western part of Long IsIhuU. 

4. Describe New York city. 

5. What was its population? 

6. How did it compare in importancewith the rest of the State? 

7. What had been the established church during Dutch rule? 

8. What was the favored church under English rule? 

9. Name some other denommations found in the colony. 



188 HISTORY OF THE EMPIRE STATE. 

10. Tell about the public buildings of the city. 

11. What and where was the first college of the State? 

12. What was the condition of education under English rule? 

13. Tell something of the southern Hudson counties. 

14. Describe the counties along the Hudson. 

15. Give some idea of the extent of Albany county, and name some of the 
villages. 

16. Tell something of the ways of traveling, of tlie mails, the life of the 
common people and the manner of dress. 

17. Name some of the great families of the State and tell how they lived. 

18. How many acting governors did New York liave in the century ])efore 
the Revolution? 

19. Give some reasons for the frequent changes. 

20. Tell what vou can of Sir William Johnson. 



CPIAPTER IX. 

1. What were the navigation laws and their effect upon the colonies? 

2. What is meant by the Stamp Act, and wlien was it passed? 

3. What effect had this on the colonists? 

4. Why was it so strongly opposed? 

5. IIow were the colonies united? 

6. What did the colonial congress of 1765 do? 

7. Give an account of November 1, 1765, 

8. Was the Stamp Act ever enforced? 

9. What was the Quartering Act? 

10. Give an account of the liberty poles of New York city. 

11. What were non-importation societies, and why were they formed? 

12. What bill did parliament wish the assembly to pass? 

13. How did the English try to force the assembly to do this, and with what 
result? 

14. What were the names given to the two parties in the colony? 

15. Give some account of the troubles with the Indians. 

10. Why would a general uprising of the Indians of the State have been 
especially dangerous at this time? 

17. How was the boundary between Connecticut and New York decided? 

18. What led to the contest between New Hampshire and New York? 

19. By whom was it settled and in whose favor? 



QUESTIONS. 189 

20. What reaction was there, ami what kind of an assciul.ly wiis rliosc-n? 

21. How did the new assembly displease the people y 

22. How did the soldiers irritate the people, and what ci-Irhnitrd fk'lit 
occurred? 

23. Under what circumstances was trade with England resunu'd; 

24. Why had New York suffered more than ihe other colonies from non- 
importation? 

25. For what is Lord Dunmore's administration noticeable? 

26. Who w^as the last English governor? 

27. What was England's last attempt to enforce taxation? 

28. What was the plan of parliament after tlic failure with the tea tax? 

29. What port Vas closed? 

30. Tell of the three parties in New York. Which was the stiongest? 

31. Did the New York assembly endorse the action of Uie first Cuntinental 
Congress? 

32. Tell something of the feelmg of the people. 

33. What was the effect of the news of the battle of Le.vington? 



PERIOD III, 



CHAPTER X. 

1. Give an account of the captuie of Fort Ticonderoga. 

2. How did the Green mountain boys hapi)en to be organized? 

3. What congress met on the same day ? 

4. Which side did most of the Indians support '.' 

5. How many men wiis New York called to furnisli at first? 

6. What two men of the State were appointed generals'' 

7. Tell what you can of Montgomery. 

8. After the English were driven from Boston, where were they expected? 

9. Did Washington hoi)e to keep them out of the city? 

10. What steps were taken toward a State government at this time? 

11. How was the Declaration of Independence received? 

12. What battle was fought before the English took possession of New Yt»rk 
city? 



190 HISTORY OF THE EMPIRE STATE. 

13. Give some account of Washington's retreat. 

14. Why was the possession of the Hudson important? 

15. How did the English plan to get possession of it? 

16. What successes did Burgoyue meet? 

17. What was the plan of St. Leger's expedition and who were with him? 

18. Describe the hattle of Oriskany. 

19. Why was the defeat of St. Leger's troops especially important? 

20. How was the march of Burgoy ne liindered ? 

21. In what battles was he defeated? 

22. Who was in command of the American army ? 

23. What were some of the effects of this victory ? 

24. How were the tones of the State treated? 

25. In what year was the first State constitution adopted ? 

26. Give some of its provisions. 

27. Who was the first governor of the State ? 

28. What did the English force in New York city do during the last years of 
the war? 

29. What kept them from making further incursions into the State? 

30. In what two ways did New York suffer? 

31. Describe the massacre of Cherry Valley and otlier raids of the Indians 
and tories. 

32. Give an account of Sullivan's expedition. 

33. AVhy was this undertaken and with what result? 

34. What other places suffered from the Indians? 

35. Tell something about the capture of Stony Point. 

36. What events happened at West Point, Tarrytown and Tappan? 

87. Compare tlie treatment of Nathan Hale and that of Major Andre. 

88. How did the English treat their prisoners? 
39. Describe the last campaign of the war. 



CHAPTER XI. 

1. In what year were the Articles of Confederation adopted? 

2. How many States had ratifietl them? 

3. State their chief provisions. 

4. Name some powers, now belonging to the United States government, 
which were tlien held by the legislature of the State. 

5. What was the extent of the United States at the close of the Revolution? 



QUESTIONS. I'Jl 

6. What trouble arose over tlie land west of New York? How ■w.is thw 
settled? 

7. What position did the State take ^vith regard to revenue taxes? 

8. Why is the 25th of November celebrated in New York city? 

9. Describe some of the changes which took jilacc in the city <luring ili<! 
war. 

10. How were the torics treated? 

11. How did the English break the treaty? 

12. Name some causes which contributed to the growth of Albany. 

13. How did Albany rank among the cities of the United Stntvs? 

14. What part had the Iroquois taken in the war? 

15. AVhat was the result of this? 

16. What was one way in which soldiers were rewarded for their wrvices? 

17. By whom was the central part of the State largely wttled? 

18. What was the population of the State? 

19. How did it compare with that of 1880? 

20. What was the population of New Y^'ork city? 

21. What legislative bodies met in that city? 

22. Who was governor during these years? 

23. For what purpose was the Board of Regents created? 

24. Name some of the causes of the weakness of the Confederacy. 

25. Did the action of New Y'ork tend to strengthen tin- Confedeniry? 

26. What was the object of the convention which met at IMiiladelphia in 1787? 

27. Were the people of New Y'ork generally in favor of a new constitution? 

28. How many of the delegates of the State remained through the conven- 
tion? 

29. What two parties grew up at this time? 

30. Name some of the leading men of each. 

31. What were the arguments used on each side? 

32. What finally led New Y^ork to adopt the consiituiion .' 

33. How large was the majority in the convention favoring its adoption? 

34. Why did not New Y^ork take part in tlie first presidential ele<tion? 

35. Who were the first United States senators from tlie State? 

36. When and where was Washington inaugurated? 



PERIOD IV 



CHAPTER XII. 
1. How long did congress meet in New York city and why w^i-s it nmov«i? 



192 HISTORY OF THE EMPIRE STATE. 

2. What were the two parties? 

3. What was the chief issue between them? 

4. To which party did Governor Clinton belong ? 

5. Describe the State election of 1793. 

6. Who was chosen governor at the next election? 

7. Tell what you can about the Jay treaty, 

8. How long was the governor's term of office? 

9. IIow were the presidential electors chosen? 

10. Describe the difficulty with Yermont. 

11, IIow were the public lands disposed of ? 

13. jNIention some counties formed after the war. 

13. How many counties were there in 1800? 

14. What parts of the State were first settled and why? 

15. In what ratio did the population increase from 1790 to 1800? 

16. What plans were made for facilitating travel by water? 

17. In what condition were most of the roads? 

18. Tell about the newspapers published in the State. 

19. Tell what you can of the mails and letters. 

20. Describe the appearance of New York city at this time and tell how it 
was supplied with water. 

21. Name two towns wliich were springing up on the Hudson. 

22. When and where was the capital permanently located? 

23. What rank did New York have with the other States in 1800? 

24. What was the chief occupation of the people? 

25. What other industries were being developed? 

26. What was the first college organized by the Regents? 

27. When was State money first given to the common schools? 

28. How many slaves were there in New York? 

29. What governor did much to abolish slavery? 

30. What was the Council of Appointment? Of Revision? 

31. Describe Jay's difficulty with these councils and how it was settled. 

32. What war was threatening at this time ? 
38. Who was chosen governor in 1801 ? 



CHAPTER XIII. 

1. Wlu) introduced the spoils system in this State? 

2. What is meant by this system ? 



QUESTIONS. 198 

3. Name the most influential republicans at this time? 

4. How was Burr regarded and why? 

5. Tell something of Livingston. 

6. Who was the leader in the State during the tirst twcntynvo years of the 
19th centmy? 

7. Tell something ol' his early public life. 

8. Describe the duel between Hamilton and Burr. 

9. What were some of its results? 

10. Briefly describe Burr's after life. 

11. What was the beginning of the permanent school fund? 

12. How had money been raised for school purposes before? 

13. Were all the schools free at this time? 

14. Mention some of the events of the year 1807 that show i>rogress. 

15. Tell something of Noah Webster. 

16. Who was the first master of American literature, and wli;it were some of 
his works? 

17. What progress had manufacturers made? 

18. Describe the first trip of the Clermont. 

19. What two European countries were at war at this time, and hnw did this 
affect the United States? 

20. What is an embargo? 

21. Why did the embargo affect New York more than other St.-ites? 

22. What changes w^re made in president and governor <luring the yean 
1808 and 1809? 

23. Was the embargo a success? 

24. Were the people of the State generally in favor of tlie war of 1812? 

25. AVhat acts of England led to a change of feeling? 

26. Compare the condition of the State in the war of 1812 and of tlie Revolu* 
tion. 

27. What part of the State suffered most? 

28. Describe the two Imes of defences along the Niagara river. 

29. What victories did the Americans gain in Canada? 

30. What villages were burned l)y the English? 

31. What victories freed western New York from danger? 

32. Describe the campaign along Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence. 

33. Was the greater part of the war fought on land or sea? 

34. What made New York city an important point? 

35. Describe the preparations made. 



194 HISTORY OF THE EMPIRE STATE. 

36. Describe the expedition of the English to Lake Cham plain and the battles 
fought. 

37. What was gained by the war? 

38. Who was the first Superintendent of Schools? 

39. What military academy was organized at the beginning of this war? 

40. Tell what you can about the Sunday schools of New York. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

1. On what were the parties of the State divided after the war of 1812? 

2. Who headed the opposition to Clinton? 

3. Tlirough whose influence had Governor Tompkins received liis first 
offices? 

4. Tell something of the society of Tammany. 

5. What names were given to the two factions of the democratic party? 

6. To which did the Tammany men belong? 

7. What State was a rival of New York? 

8. Who succeeded Madison as president? 

9. Why did the people of New York think that the president should come 
from the north? 

10. What compromise was made? 

11. How long was Tompkins governor of the State? 

12. What was one of his last and most illustrious acts? 

13. What former governor had labored to free the slaves and with what effect? 

14. Give the date of their final emancipation. 

15. For what is July 4, 1817, notable? 

16. Name the natural water routes of the State. 

17. Give the early history of the canal. 

18. What route was suggested by Washington? 

19. Why was the route through New York preferable? 

20. Who was the first man to put these projects in definite shape, and what 
did he advise? 

21. To whose efforts is the canal due? 

22. Who surveyed the route? 

23. Name some of tlie committee appointed to go over tlie route. 

24. To what lake did thoy first plan the canal? 

25. What was the estimated cost of a canal to Lake Eric? 

26. Why did New York ask congress to build the canal and with what result? 



QUESTIONS. 195. 

27. Why was Clinton not a candidate for governor in 1822? 

28. Tell what you can of the renioval of Gideon Hawley. 

29. What was the Albany Regency? 

30. How many national parties were there at this time? 
31 What party was growing up in New York? 

32. What two reforms did its leaders advocate? 

33. What bill was carried througli tlie legislature by the cmtni.s ..t ( liiuon? 

34. What action did the people's party take? 

35. Why was Clinton's election particularly fitting at this tiine? 

36. What was the first cost of the canal? 

37. The entire cost? 

38. Give its dimensions and describe its course. 

39. How is the water furnished, and in wliich direction does it flow? 

40. When was the water first let in ? 

41. How was this fact made known in New York city? 

42. What events during the war of 1812 made tlie necessity of a <aiial more 
apparent? 

43. What were some of the objections made to tiie plan? 

44. In what year was the work begun ? 

45. Between what two cities was the canal first made? 

46. How was opposition to the scheme shown in IblD, and with what rt-jiult? 

47. How long was the first constitution in force? 

48. Name some members of the constitutional convention t)f \X'2\. 

49. In what year was the second constitution adopted? 

50. What change was made in regard to property (pialification of voters? 

51. What councils were abolished and to whom were their jiowers given? 

52. What courts were established? 

53. At what number were the senate and assembly fixed? 

54. How was the governor's term changed ? 

55. Who succeeded Clinton as governor? 

56. Describe the first trip to the ocean. 

57. Give an account of the celebration in New York city. 
68. What progress had the State made in 1825? 



PERIOD V. 



CHAPTER XV. 
1. Mention some changes which took place in the next twenty yeara. 



196 HISTORY OF THE EMPIRE STATE. 

2. To what did Clinton turn liis attention after the completion of the Erie 
canal? 

3. Describe his death and character, 

. 4. Who was the leading man of the State after his death ? 

5. What change was made in 1828 in the manner of chosing presidential 
electors? 

6. To what office had Van Buren been elected and wiiy did he leave it? 

7. Give a description of the rise of the anti-masons. 

8. How strong did the anti-masonic party become? 

9. Who was elected governor in 1832? 

10. What name did the opponents of the democratic party take? 

11. Who was their first candidate for governor? 

12. Who was the first president from New York? 

13. Tell something of the prosperity of these times. 

14. Describe the panic of 1837. 

15. How did this affect the election of 1838? 

16. What led to the anti-rent troubles? 

17. Describe the anti-rent rebellion. 

18. How were the difficulties settled? 

19. Tell something of the Patriot war. 

20. What plans were made for opening up the southern counties? 

21. When and where was the first railroad of the State built? 

22. What canals were built? 

23. Tell something of the travel on these canals. What was their chief use? 

24. Tell of the decrease in the cost of freight. 

25. What was the population of the State in 1850? 

26. Tell what you can of the growth of New York city? 

27. What change was made in lighting the city? 

28. What took the place of the stages? 

29. When and by whom was the telegraph invented? 

30. State what you can of the newspapers of this period. 

31. Name some of the prominent business men. 

32. Tell something of the riots. What has made the city more orderly? 

33. What disasters were supposed to be the result of the insufficient supply 
of water? 

34. Describe the first Croton aqueduct. 

35. Tell what you can of Central Park. 

36. Name some of the distinguished people who were publicly welcomed in 
Kew York city. 



QUESTIONS. 197 

CHAPTER XVI. 

1. Tell something of the early history of education in the State. 

2. What governors and what secretary of state were especially intrn-strd in 
schools? 

3. What means were taken to provide qualified teachers? 

4. What were the county superintendents? 

5. Where was the first normal school? 

6. How were the expenses of the common sdiools i)aid? 

7. What were the principal changes made by the third constitution? 

8. Give an account of the passage and repeal of the free scliool act. 

9. What school office was created in 18o4? 

10. What changes has invention made in the daily life nf the pe(»pk'? 

11. What improvements were made in morals? 

12. What connection vdth the history of New York liave the Shakers, Mor- 
Bions, Millerites, John H. Noyes, and John Brown? 



CHAPTER XVH. 

1. What stand was taken by the people of the State in regard t<. slavery in 
the early part of the century? 

2. Give an account of the trouble between Virginia and New York. 

3. How were the admission of Texas, the Mexican war. and the coiiipronjisc 
of 1850 regarded? 

4. What party sprang up and for what purpose? 

5. Who was the first republican governor? 

6. Who was the candidate for president from New York at the republican 
mational convention of 1860? 

7. What office did he hold during the war? 

8. Were all the people of the State united in favoring the war? 

9. What was the position of New York city? 

10. How did New York respond to Lincoln's first call? 

11. How were the people affected by the battle of Bull Umi? 

12. How many soldiers did New York send during the first year of the war? 

13. In what other ways did the State aid the union? 

14. Who was elected governor in 1862? Of what party was he? 

15. Give an account of the Draft Riots. 

16. How many troops did New York furnish during the war? 

17. What is the 15th amendment to the constitution? 



198 HISTORY OF THE P:m l»I liK STATE. 

18. In what year did New York ratify it? 

19. In what year were the schools of the State made free? 

20. How was the number of academies and academic departments increased? 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

1. Tell what you can of the political history of the State since 1870. 

2. What change was made in the term of office of the governor in 1876? 

3. Who was elected to that position in 1882? Who succeeded him as gov- 
ernor? 

4. What candidates for president and vice-president have come from this 
State? 

5. Which of these have been elected? 

6. What was the Tweed Rmg? 

7. By what paper was it exposed, and what was the result of the exposure? 

8. What was the population of New York city in 1880? 

9. In what two ways was rapid transit obtained in the city? 

10. Tell wiiat you can of the Statue of Liberty and of the capitol at Albany? 

11. Mention places in the State noted for beautiful scenery and as summer 
resorts. 

12. What was the population of the State in 1880? 

13. In what respects was it first? 

14. Compare its foreign and domestic traffic with that of other States. 

15. What can you say of it as an agricultural State? Name some of its pro- 
-^ucts. 

16. Tell something of its manufacturing interests. 

17. Give an account of its schools. 

-18. What centennial celebrations have been held in New York? 



INDEX 



Abercrombie, Gen., 
Adams, John, 
Adams, John Quincy, 
Albany (city) 

43, 62, 70, 1 
Albany (county) 
Allen, Ethan, 
Andre, Major, 
Andros, Edmund, 



72,73 

119, 120, 125, 148 

149 

16. 35, 37, 

112, 1^, 123, 145 

80 

97,98 

107, 108 

, 40, 42, 43, 45, 46 



Anti-federalists, 115, 116, see republicans, 119 



Anti-masons, 
Anti-Rent Rebellion, 
Aqueduct, Croton, 
Arnold, Benedict, 
Arthur, Chester A., 
Assembly (colonial), 
Astor, John Jacob, 



150 

152, 153 

157, 158 

99, 102, 107, 108 

173 

43, 56, 58, 60, 63, 65, 68 

156 



Battery, the, 
Beecher, Henry Ward, 
Bellomont, Gov., 
Bennett, James Gordon, 
Benson, Egbert, 
Black Rock, 
Block, Abram, 
Bogardus, Everardus, 
Bouck, William C, 
Bradford, William, 
Brant, Joseph, 
Brooklyn, 
Brown, John, 
Bryant, William Cullen, 
Buchanan, James, 
Bucktails, 
Buffalo, 

Burgoyne, Gen., 
Burnet, Gov., 
Burr, Aaron, 
Butler, Walter, 



113, 122, 



119, 



47 

164 

56 

156 

116 

132, 133 

14 

31 

153, 162 

U 

101, 106 

15, 19, 41, 75 

1&4 

156 

166.167 

1.37 

132, 1.33. 145, 151 

101, 102, 103 

62,63 

126, 127, 128, 161 

105,106 



Cabot. 9, IS 

Canada, 10. 49-.')4, 98. 99. 101. IM. IM 

Canals, 121. 139. 148. IM. 156, see Erie canal 
Capitol. 175 

Castle Island. 1.% 10 

Centennial Celebrations, 178 

Central Park. 138 

Champlain, Samuel, 9. 10, 11. 18 

Chapin, E. II., IM 

Cherry Valley, 105 

Civil war. IW. !» 

Clark, MjTon H., 1« 

Clarke, George, ©, W, 67 

Clermont, la, ISO 

Cleveland, Grover, ITi, 173 

Clinton, Admiral, 67. 09 

Clinton. Dewitt, 11.3, 114. 115, 131, 1.32, 137. 
138. 140, 141. 143-146, 148, 149, IM, 159. 161 
Clinton, Gen. (English), 103, 107, 108 

Clinton, George, 89, W, KM. 

113, 114. 119, 125-127, 131. l.« 
105 
137 
82, 87, 93. 139 
78, lis, 135 
9 



Clinton, James, 
Clintonians, 
Colden, Cadwallader, 
Columbia College, 
Columbus, 
Colve, Anthony, 
Commerce. See trade. 
Confederation, Articles of. 
Congress, Colonial, 
Congress, Continental, 



109. 114 

m 



98. 100, 109. 110. 113. 114 
Conkling. Roscoe. 173 

Connecticut. 22. .3fi. 40. 7T,. 00. 1 li 

Constitutions. 103. 104. 114 116. 141. 142, IflO 
Cooper. Fenimore, 'OT 

Cooper, Peter, 
Combury, Lord, 
Cornell, Alonzo D., 
Cornell University, 



136 

57,58,60 

in 

17D 



199 



200 



HISTORY OF THE EMPIRE STATE. 



Cornwallis, Gen., 
Cosby, Gov., 
Council (colonial). 
Council of appointment 
Council of revision. 
Counties, 
Criminals, 
Crown Point, 
Customs, 



108 

63-65 

56 

134, 142 

125, 143 

45, 75, 79, 80, 120, 121, 146, 1G3 

18,139 

71.73,98 

30, 32, 42, 81, 82, 163 



French, 10, 11, 15, 47-55, 61, 69-73, 108 

Frontenac, Count, 52, 53 

Frontenac, Fort, .51, 52, 62, 71, 73 

Fulton, Robert, 129, 140 



De Lancy, Stephen, 
Delaware, State of. 
Democrats, 
Denmore, Gov., 
Dickens, Charles, 
Dickinson, Daniel S., 
Dix, John A., 
Donfran Charter, 
Dongan, Thomas, 
Draft Riots, 
Draper, Andrew S., 
Dress, 

Duke of York, 
Duke's Laws, the 



Education, see schools. 
Edward. Fort, 
Embargo, 
Erie Canal, 
Esopus, 

Evacuation Day, 
Evarts, William M., 
Evertsen, Cornells, 



63,70 

36 

148, 151, 168 

92 

158 

163 

1.59, 172 

43, 44, 45 

43, 45, 52 

168, 169 

177 

31, 81, 82 

34, 39, 44, 45. 46 

m 



71. 72, 101 

130, 131 

11, 130,139-146, 155 

19, 24, 37, 43 

110 

173 



Gates, Gen., 
Geddes, Joseph, 
Genet, 

German Flats, 
Grant, Gen., 
Greeley, Horace, 
Greenback Party, 



Half Moon, the. 
Hale, Nathan, 
Hamilton, Alexander, 

114, 115, 
Hamilton, Andrew, 
Hamilton College, 
Harrison, Wilham Henry, 
Hawley, Gideon, 
Hendrick, King, 
Herkimer. Gen., 
Hill, David B., 
Hoffman, John T., 
Houses, 
Howe, Gen., 
Hudson, Henry, 
Hudson, river, 10, 11, 14, .51, 
Hudson (city). 
Hunt, Washington, 
Hunter, Robert, 



103 
140 

125 

61, 105 

170, 173 

156, 166, 173 

173 



12, 18 

107, 106 

79. 93, 112, 

118, 125, 127, 128 

64,65 

V2S, 135 

152 

143 

70 

101, 102 

172 

170, 172 

29 

99, 100 

9, 10, 11, 12, 13 

101,107, 108, 123 

123 

162 

60, 61, 62 



Falls. Niagara, 175 

Federalists, 115, 
118, 119, 120, 125, 126, 131, 132, 137 

Fenton, Reuben E., 169, 170 

Field, Cyrus W., 1.56 

Fish, Hamilton, 162, 163 

Fitch, John, 122, ViO 

Fletcher, Gov., .55, .56, 64 

France, 9, 103, 125 

Franklin, Benjamin, 70 

Fremont, John C, 166 



Ingoldsby, Richard, 47 

Irondequoit Bay, 52 

Iroquois, 9. 10, 11, 17, 18. 19. 37. 49-54, 70, 72, 
83, 89, 98, 101, 103, 104, 106, 110, 113. 13:3, 139 
Irving, Washington. 17, 129, 158 



Jackson, Gen., 149,151 

James II., see Duke of York. 
Jay, John, 

94, 98, 104, 115, 118. 119, 124-126, 138, 148 
Jay, Peter, 13» 





INDE 


X. 




201 


Jay, William, 


139 


Marcy, William L., 




143. 151. 188 


Jefferson, Thomas, 




Martha's Vineyard, 




86.40 


118, 119 


, 125,126, 127, 131, 148 


May, Captain, 




14.18 


Jesuits, 


49-51 


McClellan, CJen., 




Iffi 


Jogues, Isaac, 


49 


McDougal. Alexander, 




91.03 


Johnson, John, 


98. 101, 106 


Megapolensis, John, 




27 


Johnson, Sir William, 


70-73, 83, 89, 94 


Mexican War, 
Milbome, 
Miller, William, 




165 

47.48 

164 


Kent, James, 


142 


Mining, 




123 


Kidd, Captain, 


.56 


Minuet, Peter, 




16-19. « 


Kieft, William 


17-19, 21, 24, 27 


Mohegans, 




10 


Kiu{?, John A. 


162, 166 


Money, 




42. GO 


King, Rufus, 


116,118, 142 


Monroe, President, 




138, 14.3. 14^ 


King's College, see Columbia. 


Montcalm, 




71. ?2. 73 


Kingston, 


80, 103, 107 


Montgomery, Richard. 




JW. 99 


Kirkland, Samuel, 


123 


Montreal. 




13. 52. 53 


Kossuth, 


1.58 


Morgan, Edwin D., 
Morgan. William, 




1G6 
150 






^Morris, Gouverneur, 


79. 


126. 127. 139. 140 


Labor Parties, 


173 


Jlorris, Lewis. 




50.60.64 


Lafayette, 


58 


Morse. Samuel F.B.. 




156 


Lamb, John, 


91, 93 








La MojTie, 


50 








Lansing, 


114,115 


Nantucket, 




86 


Lee, Ann, 


164 


Navigation Laws 




84 


Lee, Gen., 


168 


Negro Plot. 




68,87 


Leisler, Jacob, 


46-48 


New Amsterdam. 




15. 20. 25. 28, 


Leislerians, 


.55 


see New York City. 






Lewis, Morgan, 


i27. 128, 131 


New France, 




49.51 


Lincoln, Abraham, 


166, 167. 169 


New Netherland, 




14.19 


Lind, Jenny, 


1.58 


Newspapers. 


64,M.85. 122. 129. 156 


Livingston, Brockholst, 


120, 127 


New York city. 


37.51, 


, 61. 06, 76-7S, «2. 


Livingston, Robert, 


59, 60, 98 


85-88. 01-93. 99, 100 


, 104. 


111. 113. n«. UK. 


Livingston, Robert R., 




122, l)l\ 129. i:i2, l-M. U.') 


,146. I'll. r>5-158. 


115, 


116, 126, 129, 140, 149 


167-169. 174. see New Amsterdam. 


Long Island, 




Niagara. Fort. K 


1.63.68. 70.73. 112. 132 


9, 11, 15. 22, 37. 


41, 43, 60, 61. 75, 100 


Nichols, Richard, 




34-37 


Lovelace, Lord, 


37, :J8 


Nicholson, 




45,46 


Lundy's Lane, 


133 


Non-importation, 
Normal schools, 
Noyes, John H., 




88,80 

160, ITO. 177 

164 


MacDonough. General, 


134,135 








Madison, President, 


131, 132, 138 








Mails, 


81,122 


Ogdensburg. 




88, 74, 11-2, laS 


Manhattan Island, 


13, 18, 19 


Oriskany. battle. 




101. lOE? 

16. 19. .35 

101,102,11'2. 133 


Manning, Captain, 
Manufactures, 


.38 
123, 129, 176, 177 


Orange, Fort, 
Oswego. 62. 70. n. • 


73.80, 



202 



HISTOKY OF THE EMPIRE STATE, 



Palmyra, 






164 


Sandy Hook, 








10, 13, 134 


Panics, financial, 






1.51, 173 


Saratoga, 








69, 80, 103 


Parties, 45, 119, 125, 


137, 


143, 


166, 172, 173 


Schenectady, 




20 


,27, 


51, 52, 61, 80 


Patriot war, 






1.53, 1.54 


Schools, 


32 


,41, 


79, 


12.3, 124, 128, 


Patroons, 






16,82 


135, 136, 143, 


,148, 


15^162, 


, 170, 171, 177 


Pavonia, 






15, 19, 22 


Schuyler, Peter, 








53, 55, 59, 63 


Pemaquid, 






43 


Schuyler, Philip, 








89, 98, 99, 


Penn, William, 






43 


101, 


10.3, 


112, 


11a 


, 116, 118, 119 


People's Party, 






143, 144 


Sears, Isaac, 








88,93 


Physicians, 






129 


Seward, William H., 




151, 


153, 


, 163, 16.5, 166 


Pirates, 






55,56 


SejTnour, Horatio, 








162, 168, 170 


Pitt, 






73,88 


Shakers, 








160 


Plattsburgh, 






134 


Slaves, 


20 


,67. 


124 


. 138, 165-174 


Population, 




19, 


20, 40, 61, 76, 


Sloughter, Gov., 








47, 48, 55 


112, 113, 121, 123, 


146, 


155, 


169, 174, 175 


Smith, Joseph, 








164 


Pou^hkeepsie, 






80, 115, 175 


Smith, Melancthon, 








115 


Prisons, 






128, 163 


Smith, William, 






59. 


60, &4, 65, 70 


Produce, 






41, 163, 176 


Sons of Liberty, 




65, 


a5. 


88, 91-94, 112 


Prohibition, 
Puritans, 






162, 173 
34 


Spencer, Ambrose, 
Stamp Act, 
Stanwix, Fort, 
Steamboats, 








142 
84, 85, 87, 88 
101, 102, 105 

129 


Quakers, 






20, 78, 139 


Steuben, Gen., 








112 


Quartering Act, 






85,88 


Stewart, Alexander T., 






156 


Quebec, 






73, 99 


St. Leger, Gen., 








101-103 


Queen Anne's War, 






58,54 


Stony Point, 








107 


Queenstown Heights, 






133 


Stuyvesant, Peter, 
Sullivan, Gen., 
Sunday Schools, 






17, 


, 21, 23-25, 27 
105, 106 
135,136 


Railroads, 






154 


Swedes, 








21 


Randall, Samuel S., 






160 


Syracuse, 








10, 151 


RajTiiond, Henry J., 






156 












Regents, 




113, 


123, 170, 171 












Religion, 31, 45 


,49, 


55,' 


77, 78, 91, 164 


Tammany, 








137 


Rensselaerwick, 






16, 19, 43 


Throop, Enos T., 








149, 150 


Republicans (democratic-republican party), 


Ticonderoga, Fort, 








71-73, 98, 101 


119, 125,126. 127,seeanti 


-federalists, 


Tilden, SamuelJ., 








172, 173 


and democrats. 








Tompkins, Daniel D. 


, 131, 


,137 


, 138, 141, 142, 149 


Republican party (modem> 




166, 169 


Tories, 45, 89, 93, 


,94, 


103. 


. 10.5, 111, 112 


Rice. Victor M.. 






162 


Trade, 17, 37, 


42,61 


[,63 


,92, 


112, 1.58, 176 


Roads, 






122, 154 


Travel, 








80, 156, 174 


Robinson, Lucius, 






172 


Troy, 








123 


Rochester, 






144, 145, 151 


Tryon, Gov., 








92,95 


Roelandsen, Adam, 






32 


Tryon (county). 








106 


Rome, 






74, 139, 141 


Tweed, William IL, 
Twelve Men, the. 








174 
W.87 


Sackett's Harbor, 






133 


Underbill, John, 








» 



INDEX. 



•^U3 



Union College, 




123, 135 


Webster, Noah, 


t» 


Ury, John. 




67 


Weed, Thurlow, 


IM 


Utica, 


74. 


141, 151, 165 


West Indian Company. Dutch. 
West Point, 
Wheeler, William A., 


18 
107 
173 


Van Buren, Martin, 




1.3T, 142, 


Whigs, 


151. 1S2, lOS 


148, 


149, 


1.51, 152, 154 


White, Hugh, 


118 


Van Curler, 




27 


Whitestown, 


118, la 


Van Dam, Rip, 




6.3,64 


Wilkiuaon, Jemima. 


1M 


Van Rensselaer, Kilian, 




16 


WilUara Henry, Fort, 


71.72 


Van Rensselaer, Stephen, 




2. 142 


William, King, 


4« 


Van Twiller, Walter, 




17 


Wolfe, Gen., 


7S 


Vermont, 




90, 97, 120 


Wright. Silas, 


]\i, lttJ,168 


Virginia. 




115, 138 






Vries, de, 




ar 


Yates. 

Yates, Joseph ('., 


114. 115 


Warner, Seth, 




97,98 


Yorktown, 


lOR 


Washington, Fort, 




100 


Young, John, 


158,182 


Washington, Geo., 11 


, 98-100, ias-105. 






108, 110, 111, 114, 116, 


118, 


119, 125, 1.39 






Watervliet, 




164 


Zenger, Peter, 


6*.« 



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Keddall (Henry F.) A Pocl-ef Uaiid-Biwl- of ninffraphij. Cloth, 16mo. pp. 264 50 
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5. Xfionsaud Regents' Questions in AiWimetic. Card-board 100 

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mJ \j -^.^ry (o Geography. Answers to the above. .Manilla, 16mo, pp. 36 25 

8. Grammar. Tlie 2.976 questions In Cirammar. Manilla, 16mo, pp. 109 2.5 

P. Grammar and Key. Cloth, lt>mo, pp. 198 1 00 

\0. Key to Grammar. Manilla, 16mo, pp. 88 25 

11 . Spelling. The 4.800 words given in Spelling. Blanllla, 16mo, pp. 61 . 25 



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